Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
04ROME4406
2004-11-18 08:03:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Rome
Cable title:  

CODEL LANTOS MEETINGS IN ROME ON LIBYA

Tags:  PREL PREF PHUM LI IT EUN 
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C O N F I D E N T I A L ROME 004406 

SIPDIS


E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/16/2009
TAGS: PREL PREF PHUM LI IT EUN
SUBJECT: CODEL LANTOS MEETINGS IN ROME ON LIBYA

REF: (A) ROME 3911 (B) ROME 4059

Classified By: Pol Mincoun Tom Countryman for reasons 1.4 (b)(d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L ROME 004406

SIPDIS


E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/16/2009
TAGS: PREL PREF PHUM LI IT EUN
SUBJECT: CODEL LANTOS MEETINGS IN ROME ON LIBYA

REF: (A) ROME 3911 (B) ROME 4059

Classified By: Pol Mincoun Tom Countryman for reasons 1.4 (b)(d).


1. (C) Summary. En route to Tripoli, Congressman Lantos
met with Italian officials responsible for Libya, the
Italo-Libyan Jewish community, and the Israeli Ambassador to
Rome. Italians reaffirmed their commitment to abide by the
EU code of conduct in selling equipment to Italy and
expressed concern that Italian reparations issues not be
forgotten as the U.S. and EU proceed with normalization and
settlement of outstanding human rights/terrorism questions.
Lantos advised the Italo-Libyan community to create a united
organization of Libyan Jews from Italy, the U.S., Israel and
Europe before proceeding with compensation negotiations and
suggested it may be more realistic to discuss restoration of
communal properties before tackling the subject of
compensation for private properties seized after 1967. The
success of the compensation negotiations, he stressed, would
depend on progress in U.S.-Libyan and Israel-Libyan
relations. End Summary.


2. (C) During a visit to Rome November 5-7, Congressman Tom
Lantos attended a dinner hosted by Israel Ambassador Ehud Gol
and had meetings with Ambassador-designate to tripoli
Francesco Trupiano, MFA Deputy Secretary General Giuilo
Terzi, Berlusconi Diplomatic Advisor Paolo Dionisi, and two
groups of the Italo-Libyan Jewish community. Lantos was
accompanied by Chief of Staff Bob King and HIRC Staffer Alan
Makovsky.


3. (C) During the dinner with the Israeli Ambassador, Gol
expressed skepticism that the Italo-Libyan Jews would succeed
in negotiating a compensation agreement with Qadhafi because
they were amateur negotiators. He discussed the split in the
Italo-Libyan community and questioned the motives of one
leader, Raffaelo Fellah, who had begun discussions with
Qadhafi as far back as 1993. Gol did say that a member of
the Israeli-Libyan Jewish community would meet November 9 in
Amman with a member of the Libyan government to discuss a
possible visit and/or compensation. He hinted that another
meeting with representatives of the American-Libyan Jewish
community would also take place but was vague on details.



4. (C) Ambassador-Designate Trupiano, who is now Diplomatic
Advisor to Defense Minister Martino, shared with Lantos and
Ambassador Sembler his perspective on Italian-Libyan
relations. Qadhafi has failed at his major initiatives--pan
Arabism, pan-Africanism and now pan-colonialism. Despite his
apparent control, Qadhafi has faced historic opposition from
religious fundamentalists and his nightmare is that domestic
fundamentalists will connect with those in Algeria or Sudan.
Trupiano believes that Qadhafi's latest opening to the West
occurred because he realized that to survive he must improve
the economic situation of his people. Trupiano noted that
there had been some changes on the economic front--the
Italian press had reported that the number of private
companies in Libya had increased from 300 to 3,000 after
Qadhafi lifted restrictions on commercial activity. Despite
these positive economic steps, however, Trupiano said it was
important to remember history. Libya had expelled both
20,000 Italians and the entire Jewish community; to date, it
continues to refuse to recognize Israel. Congressman Lantos
related his story of an exchange with Qadhafi who admitted,
in private, that it was wrong for Libya to have prevented
Israeli chess players from attending a championship in
Tripoli. Trupiano respond that this was a good sign, but it
indicated that Qadhafi was indeed still subject to internal
pressure against change.


5. (C) Trupiano also noted that Qadhafi remains fixated on
personal memories, be it stories of colonial-era atrocities
or the Reagan-era attack which killed his daughter. Lantos
agreed saying that it was the first thing that Qadhafi raised
in their first meeting. Trupiano agreed also that the
influence of Saif and the Prime Minister have played a major
role in moving Qadhafi along to face current realities. But
Trupiano urged caution, saying that the opening had occurred
very quickly and we need to maintain pressure on Tripoli.
First, there was the issue of the Bulgarian nurses--Qadhafi
has boxed himself into an untenable position and appears to
be looking for a way out. Lantos agreed, noting that Qadhafi
had persisted in asserting the nurses' culpability despite
assurances from Saif that his father understood they were
innocent. Trupiano credited Saudi Arabia's long-standing
hostility and financing of opposition groups as motives for
Qadhafi's alleged involvement in an assassination plot
against CP Abdullah. He suggested, however, that it was now
ironic that Libya and Saudi Arabia were on the same
"pro-western" side.


6. (C) For Italy, Trupiano asserted, reparations remain the
number one problem with Libya. There has been good economic
cooperation, especially with ENI in the oil and gas sector,
and growing cooperation to combat the waves of illegal
immigration flowing to Italy from Libyan ports. However,
Libya has renewed its demand that Italy pay for a new
Tunisia-Egypt highway as compensation for atrocities
committed during the colonial and fascist eras. Trupiano
admitted there had been human rights violations but noted
that Italy had already paid compensation and had invested in
Libya since 1912. He noted the irony that Italy had united
Libya in its battle against colonialism. Qadhafi continues
to push the envelope on reparations issues, and it would be
very difficult for Italy if the West settled all of its
outstanding concerns on WMD, human rights and terrorism
leaving Italian reparations as the only unresolved issue.
This would leave Italy in an uncomfortable position.
Trupiano noted that Deputy PM Gianfranco Fini, who may be
taking the FM portfolio now that Frattini is moving to
Brussels, is close to the Italians who were expelled from
Libya. Also, the first delegation of Italians expelled from
Libya is scheduled to return November 17 for a "touristic"
visit. (Note: this initiative complements Qadhafi's outreach
to the Italo-Libyan Jewish community.) Asked what steps were
needed to encourage continued Libyan reform, Trupiano
suggested pushing Tripoli to participate in the Barcelona
Process, the NATO Euro-Med Dialogue and other fora that will
increase Western influence on the Libyan government.


7. (C) During a lunch hosted by Ambassador Sembler, MFA
Deputy Secretary-General Terzi and Berlusconi advisor Dionisi
both stressed that Italy would abide by the EU code of
conduct when reviewing Libya's request for equipment to
improve immigrant/border controls. Italy will also continue
to press to lift the death sentence of the Bulgarian nurses.
Terzi said that Qadhafi had told Berlusconi that all exiled
Italians could return and, in a small sign of change, Qadhafi
changed the name of the October 7 anti-colonialism holiday
from the Day of Vengeance to the Day of Friendship. Both
Terzi and Dionisi credited the U.S. invasion of Iraq with
pressuring Qadhafi; Dionisi noted that Qadhafi called
Berlusconi repeatedly on the eve of the invasion to offer
cooperation. On the succession question, Terzi said that
Saif was the front-runner but that the Qadhafi's security
chief and the MFA chief were still in the running. It was
premature to make predictions. Both agreed that the overture
to the Libyan Jews had PR value for Qadhafi but neither
wanted to speculate on the likelihood that Libya would pay
compensation.


8. (C) Lantos held separate meetings with two estranged
groups in the Italo-Libyan Jewish community. One group, led
by Raffaelo Fellah, stressed the importance of holding
Qadhafi to his pledge to compensate Jews for assets seized
after 1967. Fellah met with Qadhafi in 1993 and claims an
ongoing initiative, although he is not supported by the
entire Italian community. The other group, led by Shalom
Tesciuba, visited Tripoli in October at the invitation of
Sa'adi Qadhafi (reftels). Lantos told both groups that they
should first create a united front with Tripoli by forming
one organization to represent expelled Libyan Jews from
Italy, Israel, the U.S. and Europe. Next, they should
consider focusing on restoration of communal assets such as
synagogues and cemeteries as the historical record of Arab
regimes compensating Jews for lost properties was not
encouraging. If they pursued personal compensation, they
should focus on those Libyan Jews who were needy (Note: the
groups which met with Lantos were clearly wealthy.) Finally,
he noted that the success of their initiative would depend on
progress made in restoring U.S.-Libya and Israel-Libya ties.
Representatives in the second group responded that they were
forming a Steering Committee to include Libyan Jews
worldwide; Rami Cahoun (sp?) would represent the Israeli
community. The next meeting with the Libyans will take place
this month, perhaps November 20-22, and contacts by phone are
now ongoing.


9. (U) Congressman Lantos did not have an opportuntiy to
clear this cable.

TRIPOLI MINIMIZE CONSIDERED


SEMBLER


NOTE: POSSIBLE MISSING CODEL CAPTION.
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2004ROME04406 - Classification: CONFIDENTIAL