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Russia offers to mediate ex-ally Gadhafi’s exit
Posted: 05/27/2011 5:57 AM
DEAUVILLE, France—Russia abandoned one-time ally Moammar Gadhafi and offered Friday to mediate a deal for the Libyan leader to leave the country he has ruled for more than 40 years.
The striking proposal by a leading critic of the NATO bombing campaign reflects growing international frustration with the Libyan crisis and a desire by the Kremlin for influence in the rapidly changing Arab landscape.
With Gadhafi increasingly isolated and NATO jets intensifying their attacks, Russia may also be eyeing Libya’s oil and gas and preparing for the prospect that the lucrative Libyan market will fall into full rebel control.
“He should leave,” Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said of Gadhafi. “I proposed our mediation services to my partners. Everyone thinks that would be useful.”
The proposal thrust Medvedev into the spotlight at a summit in France of Group of Eight rich nations. Talk of this year’s Arab world uprisings has dominated the summit.
Analysts question whether Russia still has any leverage over Gadhafi, and the leaders of France, Britain and Germany said there’s no point in negotiating directly with the Libyan leader himself.
“If Gadhafi makes this decision, which will be beneficial for the country and the people of Libya, then it will be possible to discuss the form of his departure, what country may accept him and on what terms, and what he may keep and what he must lose,” Medvedev told reporters.
Medvedev said he is sending envoy Mikhail Margelov to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi immediately to start negotiating, and that talks with the Libyan government could take place later. Margelov said earlier Friday that it’s necessary to negotiate with all “reasonable” representatives of the government, including Gadhafi’s sons.
South African President Jacob Zuma is also using his party’s ties to Gadhafi to work out a peaceful outcome, heading to Libya on behalf of the African Union.
It’s unclear what exactly Gadhafi—known as the Leader of the Revolution or Brother Leader in Libya—could step down from. He has no constitutional executive position, but wields power by force of his personality and presence, making it difficult to guarantee that he has given up power as long as he and his sons remain in the country.
The opposition wants Gadhafi exiled. Medvedev said he wouldn’t offer Gadhafi refuge in Russia but said with a grin, “such countries could be found” that would be willing to take him in.
Russian officials have been critical of Gadhafi but also say NATO is using excessive force. Russia recently held talks with representatives of both Gadhafi’s government and the rebels.
Russia often straddles the divide between the Western nations with which it shares a table in the G-8, and the Arab nations that Moscow nurtured during the Soviet era.
Moscow offered to negotiate with Saddam Hussein in Iraq in the 1990s, and is a member of the so-called Quartet negotiating for Mideast peace, alongside the United States, European Union and United Nations.
Over the past decade, the Kremlin sought to revive its influence in the Middle East and saw Gadhafi as one of its partners in the region. Libya struck multibillion dollar deals to procure Russian-made weapons, and Russia’s gas monopoly Gazprom has big investments in Libya that have been threatened by Gadhafi’s attacks on rebel forces.
Medvedev discussed the mediation offer with President Barack Obama at talks on the sidelines of the G-8.
“The Russians of course have long-standing relationships in Libya that frankly we don’t have,” U.S. deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said Friday. “We are going to be in close touch with the Russians as they pursue their conversations with the Libyans.”
A Libyan rebel spokesman, Abdel-Hafidh Ghoga, said Russia’s offer should have come sooner. “It’s too late, and it’s not a big deal,” Ghoga, the vice chairman of the opposition National Transitional Council, told a rally in the eastern city of Benghazi.
But the timing may be propitious.
Libya’s rebels have consolidated their position, and NATO pounded Tripoli with its heaviest strikes yet this week. Fuel and food shortages in the capital are starting to take a toll.
“The world does not see (Gadhafi) as the Libyan leader, and this is the position of not only the G-8 but also of all the African states that attended today’s summit,” Medvedev said.
A Moscow-based Middle East expert expressed doubt that Gadhafi will agree to step down after Benghazi-based opposition leaders rejected a cease-fire agreement proposed by the African Union in late March.
Gadhafi “will fight to the end with unpredictable consequences for everyone involved,” Yevgeny Satanovsky, head of the Moscow-based Middle East Institute, told The Associated Press.
On Friday, rebel fighters clashed with government forces to the south and west of the insurgent-held city of Misrata. Dr. Mustafa Omar of Hikma hospital said five rebels were killed and 26 wounded. It was unclear if any government soldiers were killed.
While rebel fighters have pushed Gadhafi’s troops to Misrata’s outskirts, the city, Libya’s third largest, has been under siege for months, receiving food and medical supplies only by sea.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, hosting the G-8 summit, said Friday there is “great unanimity” about an “intensification of the military intervention” to protect civilians.
He did not say how, but France and Britain said this week they are ready to deploy attack helicopters in the campaign.
British Prime Minister David Cameron told reporters in Deauville that the deployment of helicopters was “part of the process of turning up the pressure” on Gadhafi. He said the campaign is entering a “new phase.”
So far, the NATO campaign has relied largely on strike jets dropping munitions from an altitude of about 15,000 feet (4,600 meters). The helicopters, flying much lower and slower, could more accurately identify targets in densely populated areas while risking fewer civilian lives. But such flights would also expose the helicopter crews to greater risks.
———
Michelle Faul in Benghazi, Ryan Lucas in Misrata, Vladimir Isachenkov and Mansur Mirovalev in Moscow, Don Melvin in Brussels and Jamey Keaten and Julie Pace in Deauville contributed to this report.
Raheem Akingbolu
20 May 2011
With the current position of things in some African countries, the continent will, in the nearest future out pace the growth enjoyed by Asiaand many continents of the world, Chief Executive Officer of Renaissance Capital, Mr. Stephen Jennings has said.
Jennings said in Lagos at the 2nd Annual Pan-Africa Investor Conference of the Renaissance Capital that the continent could boast of all the necessary factors needed for rapid economic growth in the next decade.
According to him; “I think it is probable that in the coming decades, large parts of Africa will outpace the growth enjoyed by Asia. In the 1950s and 60s, it was Asia that was considered the over-populated, politically incompetent, war-driven basket case. It’s hard to imagine now, but in 1970, per capital GDP in China was less than that of Africa.
“The catch up between Africa and Asia can spur economic growth which can be just as transformative for Africa as it has been for Asia. Already the IMF expects Liberia, Ghana, Ethiopia, Botswana, Mauritania, Angola, Tanzania, the DRC, Uganda, Niger, Libya, and Mozambique to be amongst the 25 fastest growing economies in the world over the next 5 years.”
Speaking on what the conference was out to achieve, the chief executive said it focused on introducing local African and international investors to listed and pre-IPO companies across the continent, adding that more than 800 one-to-one meetings would take place between African companies seeking capital and prospective investors.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who opened the conference also said the continent’s collective GDP, which was put at $ 1.7 trillion in 2010 is now roughly equal to Brazil’s or Russia’s.
The former president, who disclosed that the feat has put the continent among the world’s most rapidly growing economic regions, said; “After many years of economic immobilism, the continent’s economies experienced a marked acceleration in growth during the past ten years, with real GDP increasing by 5.2 percent annually, compared with 2.3 percent in the 1990s.
Africa’s economic pulse has quickened, infusing the continent with a new commercial vibrancy. Each sector is treading upward. Be it telecom, banking, retail or construction.”
Aside Obasanjo and Renaissance Capital senior management from around the world, Nigeria’s Finance Minister Olusegun Aganga and the Central Bank Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, were represented at the conference.
In 1991, Troy Davis was convicted of murdering a white police officer. Though there’s major evidence that Davis didn’t commit the crime, Georgia is prepared to put him to death. We have a good chance of stopping this — but only if we speak up now.
The fact is, no physical evidence connected Davis to the murder. Seven of the original nine witnesses have recanted, with many saying their testimony was a result of law enforcement pressure. Of the remaining witnesses, one is highly suspect and the other could be the actual culprit in the officer’s murder.
Now, despite these and other facts, the state of Georgia has taken the first steps toward Davis’ execution — and only the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole stands between Davis and the lethal injection chamber.
Georgia may be about to kill an innocent man. That’s not justice. Please ask the Georgia Parole Board to spare Troy Davis’ life, before it’s too late — and it’s critical that you ask others to do the same:
http://act.colorofchange.org/sign/troy/
Since Troy Davis’ 1991 conviction, numerous facts have emerged that introduce significant doubt as to his guilt. These facts include:
In light of this evidence, the Supreme Court granted Davis another chance. But instead of an actual new trial before a jury, which would mean the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt is on the prosecutor, he got an evidentiary hearing before a single federal judge where Davis’ lawyers had the burden to meet an impossibly high and undefined legal standard.
In light of this, it was sad — but no surprise — when the judge rejected the new evidence and cleared the way for Davis’ execution. However, even he acknowledged lingering doubt, noting that the case against Davis was not “ironclad.”
But “ironclad” is exactly what the evidence should be in order to put someone to death. If the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole doesn’t act to stop Davis’ execution, they’ll run a serious risk of putting an innocent man to death. That is not acceptable.
Please join us, along with our partners at Amnesty International and the NAACP, in asking the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole to save Troy Davis’ life by commuting his sentence to life in prison. And when you do, please ask your friends and family to do the same.
http://act.colorofchange.org/sign/troy/
Thanks and Peace,
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