Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07TRIPOLI421
2007-05-02 09:16:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Tripoli
Cable title:  

QADHAFI'S CALLS FOR AFRICAN AND MUSLIM UNITY RESONATE IN

Tags:  PREL PGOV PHUM LY 
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DE RUEHTRO #0421/01 1220916
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 020916Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2193
INFO RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE
RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
RUEHTRO/AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI 2508
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TRIPOLI 000421 

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 4/30/2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM LY
SUBJECT: QADHAFI'S CALLS FOR AFRICAN AND MUSLIM UNITY RESONATE IN
LIBYA

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CLASSIFIED BY: Elizabeth Fritschle, Pol/Econ Chief, Embassy
Tripoli, Department of State.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)



C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TRIPOLI 000421

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 4/30/2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM LY
SUBJECT: QADHAFI'S CALLS FOR AFRICAN AND MUSLIM UNITY RESONATE IN
LIBYA

TRIPOLI 00000421 001.2 OF 002


CLASSIFIED BY: Elizabeth Fritschle, Pol/Econ Chief, Embassy
Tripoli, Department of State.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)




1. (C) SUMMARY. In two recent public appearances -- a March
27 Al Jazeera interview and a March 31 speech to Tuareg tribal
leaders in Agadez, Niger -- Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi
continued his long drift away from the Arab world and worked to
portray himself as a distinctly African leader. Speaking just
after his decision not to attend the Arab League summit in
Riyadh, Qadhafi dismissed Arab leaders as "headed for
extinction," declaimed divisions in the Muslim world between
Sunni and Shia camps, and called for the resurrection of the
tenth century Fatimid Caliphate in North Africa. While
better-educated Libyans dismiss Qadhafi's ramblings, many
Libyans take the "brother Leader's" calls for Muslim unity
seriously and link Qadhafi's comments to sectarian violence in
Iraq. Qadhafi's latest remarks should been seen as ongoing
efforts to position himself as an African leader, while at the
same time framing himself as a "pure" Muslim leader relentlessly
criticizing other Arab governments. END SUMMARY.

QADHAFI LASHES OUT AGAINST ARABS AND CALLS FOR A NEW FATIMID
STATE


2. (C) Qadhafi's recent public remarks -- a March 27 Al
Jazeera interview and a March 31 speech to Tuareg tribal leaders
in Agadez, Niger (commemorating the Prophet Muhammad's birthday)
-- strongly criticized the Arab League for allowing the United
States' to set its agenda and attempting to pit "Arabs against
Persians." In addition, Qadhafi spoke out against the division
of Muslims into Sunnis and Shiites as a "colonialist plot" to
weaken Muslims' political power. Trying to set himself apart as
a unifier, when other Muslim leaders focused on divisions, "the
Caliphate has nothing to do with religion, and this is a worldly
struggle for rule." At the same time, Qadhafi's comments served
his continuing interest in trying to counter Saudi influence in
Islamic affairs.


3. (C) The Agadez speech elaborated on Qadhafi's criticism of
the "conspiracy of mobilizing Arabs against Persians" with a

convoluted argument that African Muslims are really Shiites and
that Africa, not Iran, is the true center of Shia power.
Qadhafi claimed many Libyans have Shiite names (they do not) and
celebrate Shia holidays, including Ashoura. (NOTE: Ashura is
observed in Libya, but as a minor holiday focusing not, as in
Iran on the martyrdom of Hussein, but rather on the Prophet
Musa's parting of the Red Sea. Children wear costumes and carry
effigees. Libyans with whom we have spoken are universally
scornful of self-flagellation and other Shiite Ashura practices
associated with the seventh century martyrdom of Hussein.) In
addition, Qadhafi spoke nostalgically of the 260-year Fatimid
reign in North Africa from the tenth to the thirteenth century,
describing it as a halcyon period of African Muslim political
unity. "The Shiites are North Africa. We will build the modern,
second Fatimid state... on the condition that it be free of all
the sectarian conflicts and the debate about the Imamate and
religious rule" said Qadhafi.

QADHAFI'S CALLS FOR MUSLIM UNITY RESONATE WITH LIBYANS CONCERNED
ABOUT IRAQ


4. (C) While it is difficult to find a chain of logic in any
Qadhafi speech, and there are invariably inaccuracies or unique
interpretations, there are always segments that strike a chord
with his audience and the broader Libyan population. Though
Qadhafi's remarks are easily dismissed in most parts of the Arab
world and among most better-educated Libyans, his calls for
Muslim and African unity strongly resonate among certain, less
worldly segments of Libyan society. Describing the Al Jazeera
interview, one Libyan (and LES mission employee) praised Qadhafi
as a strong leader willing to stand up to imperialist powers and
their Arab puppets. In contrast, an LES who spent much of his
life outside Libya rolled his eyes and dismissed Qadhafi as a
lunatic. A number of Libyans echoed Qadhafi's sentiment that
Sunni-Shia divisions reduce the Muslim world's capacity to
respond to foreign powers. However, we have also heard highly
educated Libyans expressing visceral hatred for Shiism and
recent efforts to project Iranian power into Iraq. Qadhafi's
reminder that all Muslims share a single Qu'ran and should
return to the text to find the true faith also falls on
receptive ears.


5. (C) While most Libyans were confused by Qadhafi's comments
that all African Arabs are really Shiites, none would criticize
"the Leader" to Poloff, instead redirecting the conversation to
a defense of Qadhafi's calls for Muslim unity. "Libyans did
not know from Sunni and Shia before the U.S. killed Saddam
Hussein," one bookstore owner told Poloff. While all Libyans

TRIPOLI 00000421 002.2 OF 002


are (by Libyan government definition) Sunni, Saddam's death and
continuing sectarian turmoil in Iraq have created a new
awareness in Libya about sectarian division. One taxi driver
told Poloff that he had never met a Shiite before Iraqi refugees
began to arrive in Libya following the 2003 U.S. invasion of
Iraq.

IMAM MUSA AL-SADR CASE STILL AN OBSTACLE FOR QADHAFI TO OVERCOME


6. (C) Libyan thoughts, official and un-official, about Muslim
unity are further complicated by the case of Imam Musa al-Sadr,
a Lebanese Shia cleric who disappeared in 1978 after traveling
from Lebanon to Libya to seek funding from Qadhafi. Sadr's
disappearance continues to cast a cloud over Libyan-Lebanese
relations that has only slightly dissipated over time.
Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri claimed publicly that
the Libyan regime is responsible. The Lebanese Charge in
Tripoli regularly bemoans being in the Libyan backwater with
nothing to do since most Lebanese can not travel here unless
they have Libyan sponsors using "wasta" to get exceptional visa
issuances. U.S. government officials have inquired about the
background and status of the case on numerous occasions and are
given the standard response that Sadr departed Libya and
disappeared in Italy. We understand that an Italian
investigation of Sadr's disappearance was closed without any
conclusive results. The Libyans also consider the Sadr issue
"case closed" as long as the Lebanese or the Arab League don't
put it on the agenda. The cold Libyan relationship warmed
slightly during the summer 2006 war in Lebanon, when the Libyan
public responded enthusiastically to Hizballah's "resistance"
against Israel and the Government jumped on the bandwagon by
trying to send humanitarian aid to the Lebanese people.

COMMENT: THE LATEST STEP IN A LONG DRIFT FROM THE MIDDLE EAST TO
AFRICA


7. (C) Qadhafi's latest remarks should be seen in the context
of his long drift away from the Arab world and ongoing efforts
to position himself as an African leader. His speeches were
riddled with anti-Saudi rhetoric, ranging from thinly-veiled
criticism of state-sponsored extremism (Wahhabism) to a line
that the two holiest places in Islam are actually Mecca and
Jerusalem rather than Mecca and Medina. While anti-Saudi
sentiment has long been central to Qadhafi's worldview, King
Abdullah ibn Abdulaziz's recent successes brokering a
Hamas-Fatah power-sharing agreement in Palestine and hosting a
productive Arab League summit have clearly rankled. While King
Abdullah -- Qadhafi's self-styled nemesis -- has seen his star
rise, Qadhafi's own efforts to unite Africans under his
leadership are struggling. Qadhafi has been unable to implement
a Chad-Sudan ceasefire signed in Tripoli in February 2006;
promises to unite Darfur rebels as a step towards a political
settlement have stalled, and Qadhafi's "Cen-Sad" organization
continues to play a distant second fiddle to the African Union
as a coordination mechanism for African foreign policy.


8. (C) Qadhafi's seeming defense of Iran in the wake of Arab
League attempts to retool the Iraqi constitution in favor of
Iraqi Sunnis may have more to do with personal antipathy towards
Arab leaders than any great support for Iran. Though GOL
interlocutors frequently claim that the United States did not
appropriately reward Libya for renouncing WMD and terrorism, and
therefore Iran has no incentive to dismantle its own nuclear
program, Qadhafi's latest ramblings are more contemptuous of the
Arab League than supportive of Iran's nuclear ambitions. END
COMMENT.
CECIL