Summit to see Libya come in from the cold

By Ian Black

BRUSSELS: Moammar Qaddafi will achieve a historic breakthrough in Libya's relations with the west when he meets European Union leaders at the first EU-Africa summit in Cairo on Monday.

Working hard to shed his pariah status, Col. Qaddafi appears to be close to signing a declaration recognizing Israel and accepting respect for democracy and human rights, diplomats said last Friday.

Having finally handed over the two Lockerbie bombing suspects for trial, his subscribing to the principles of the 27-member Euro-Mediterranean forum -- the so-called Barcelona process -- is now all that stands between him and international respectability.

Romano Prodi, the European Commission president, provoked a furious row in January when he agreed to meet the maverick Libyan leader, but was then forced into an embarrassing climbdown.

No meeting between the two is scheduled, although Col. Qaddafi arrived in Egypt last Friday, so it would be extraordinary if an encounter did not take place during the two-day event.

"Something is moving on the Libyan side," Prodi's spokesman said. "There are encouraging signs of the Libyan government adopting a more open attitude to the Euro-Med dialogue."

Europeans feel emboldened to bring Col. Qaddafi in from the cold because he has turned a new leaf on terrorism, and because of the importance of Libya's oil industry, but also because the United States is now less hostile: last week it was sending its first official delegation to Tripoli for 20 years.

The Cairo summit is designed to show that the EU has not forgotten Africa -- ravaged by conflict and threatened by Aids, famine and marginalisation -- after a decade of post-cold-war focus on eastern and central Europe.

It is the brainchild of Portugal, current holder of the union's rotating presidency, which fought the continent's most bitter colonial wars in Guinea-Bissau, Angola and Mozambique but now has the best relations with its former colonies.

Only a month ago the event seemed destined for disaster or oblivion, because Morocco refused point blank to attend if the Western Saharans were there.

The EU is still Africa's biggest single source of emergency assistance and development aid through a variety of programs, including the aid-and-trade pact concluded in February with 71 former colonies.

African critics point out, however, that too much money has disappeared into the pockets of corrupt government officials, and accuse the European Commission of failing to keep tabs on its largess.

Social, economic and development issues are high on the Cairo agenda, as are debt relief and the fight against aids, though the EU side has made it clear that it does not want a pledging conference.

The aid charity Oxfam is urging EU governments to agree a Compact for Africa, to mobilize $1.6 billion a year, in advance of the forthcoming World Education Forum in Senegal.

Suspicions remain strong. Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the Algerian president, warned that Africans would benefit only if they prevented Europeans from "trying to sell more and more of their goods".

Only last month the EU and South Africa settled an acrimonious dispute that hinged largely on trivial questions about product names like grappa and ouzo, displaying a rich and self-satisfied trading bloc at its most selfish.

Britain, represented in Cairo by Robin Cook, the foreign secretary, wants a sharp focus on conflict prevention- vital in a continent which still accounts for more than half the world's wars, draining resources from development projects and pouring them into refugee camps.

Oxfam points to a sharp contrast between the EU's commitment to stopping violence in Kosovo and East Timor and the largely forgotten wars of Angola, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The EU puts a far greater emphasis on fostering relations with the continent's giants, such as South Africa, Nigeria and the Maghreb countries.

-- Guardian News Service