|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Libyan Constitutional Union
http://www.libyanconstitutionalunion.net
Advertisement
U.S.-MOROCCAN
DISUNITY
BEHIND
LIBYAN-MOROCCAN
UNITY
The
recent Libyan-Moroccan union agreement has stirred much
peculation
as to the motives for this unexpected
rapprochement
between Libya's dictator and King Hassan of
Morocco,
who apparently made the first move, after more than a
decade
of mutual animosity and mudslinging.
It
is inconceivable that the supposedly liberal Moroccan King
would
have done such a complete about-face merely In the hope
of
neutralising Gaddafi's support for the Polisario Front or just
to revive Morocco’s weakened economy with infusions of
Libyan oil. For the facts remain
(a)
Morocco had not been losing its 8-year war with the
Polisario;
(b)
Despite the heavy costs of this protracted desert
conflict,
King Hassan had actually gained
more personal prestige
amongst
his own people simply by not giving in to Libyan
pressures
in the past;
(c)
Algeria's goodwill is much more important than any
"concessions" which may have been made by the
shifty
Libyan colonel for any prospective settlement of the
dispute
over the Western Sahara, and
(d)
The Libyan economy itself is in such bad shape that It
has
been receiving massive cash infusions, mostly from
Saudi
Arabia.
Judging
from certain political developments during the last few
years,
the Libyan Constitutional Union can now see this
“surprise”
unity in Its right perspective.
Some
three years ago as an open rift between the Libyan regime
and
U.S policy became imminent, the United States sponsored
a
Libyan dissident movement, which was then introduced to
Saudi
and Moroccan officials as a potential substitute for the
Gaddafi regime. The governments of both countries welcomed
what they thought was a golden opportunity to help overthrow
their archenemy in the Arab world.
They were not so much
motivated by any sense of sympathy
with the people of Libya as
by
their willingness to go along with their strongest and most
trusted
Western ally.
Before
long, however, the Saudi and Moroccan governments
began
to suspect that the U.S. Administration was either
mishandling
the Libyan question altogether or not quite willing
to
take any serious action against the Gaddafi regime. They felt
they were only being used in an attempt to bring all its
political
opponents together under a single
umbrella to be manipulated
by
the American government. In the meantime both the Saudis
and
the Moroccans found themselves involved in almost direct
confrontation with the Libyan regime's vicious propaganda
machine — a painful echo of the Nasserite bitter attacks
to
which they were once so vulnerable.
While
his tightly controlled media lashed out against all and
sundry,
the unscrupulous Gaddafi never ceased trying to come
to
terms with the government of any nation harbouring Libyan
dissidents. As they realised that American support for their
anti-Gaddafi campaign was not forthcoming, the Saudis
were
the first to succumb to his incessant overtures. It is
interesting to
note that just a few months
earlier, King Fahd himself and other
members
of the Saudi Royal Family were invariably referred to
as
"pigs of Arabia" in the Libyan mass media. The Saudis have
now retaliated by undertaking to finance Gaddafi’s most
spectacular show; a man-made river to be conjured out of the
Libyan Desert.
As
for the King of Morocco, it seems that he was so frustrated
and
enraged at the Americans' evasiveness that he just had to
spite them somehow. King Hassan ll, whose country has long
been considered a haven for so many victims of political
persecution in the Arab world, suddenly took the incredible
step
of joining forces with a notorious regime, which is
inherently
hostile to his very own existence.
Now the Moroccan
government has even started handing
back Gaddafi's
opponents,
while hundreds of Libyans are fleeing Morocco in
search
of a new refuge elsewhere in our fast shrinking world.
Thus
the recent unity was, In fact, born out of a disunity on a
different
plane.
Issued
by the Libyan Constitutional Union, Manchester
The Guardian : Wednesday 10 October 1984
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Copyright
© 1999 LCU.
All rights reserved. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
.jpg)
