Newsletter No. 888
News-Analysis
January 31, 2008

 

LIBYAN SPECIAL ENVOY MAKES EAST ASIAN TOUR TO PROMOTE AFRICAN UNITY AGENDA

Special Envoy Muhammad Tahir Siala has been making a tour of East Asia on behalf of Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi. After a visit to China, Siala was in Tokyo on the 29th. He made a courtesy call on Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and handed over a personal letter from Qadhafi. According to a Japanese-language article in the Asahi Shinbun, the letter requested Japanese diplomatic support for Libya’s vision of a United States of Africa unity plan -- a topic which is scheduled to be discussed at an AU summit in Addis Ababa beginning today.

Muammar Qadhafi is very sincere about this project. On the 29th he gave a speech warning that unless Africa soon unites it will become prey to forces that will “divide it up between the international powers and neglect its future and that of its sons.” He continued, “This summit will be decisive. It will either put an end to stalling and time wasting on the unification of Africa, or prove there is a conspiracy which vetoes African unity.” In Tokyo, Siala explained to reporters: “We hope that Japan, which is a country that had no history of colonial control in Africa, might help persuade other countries to support this idea.”

Special Envoy Siala intimated that if Tokyo would lend a diplomatic hand in this effort, then the government of his country would be much more favorably disposed to awarding oil development contracts to Japanese companies. He noted that Libya was working on a large development plan in which Japanese companies could benefit, not only in the oil industry, but also in terms of road and harbor construction and other similar projects.

There is no immediate word that Siala signed any specific business agreements at this time, but we should make passing reference to a story that briefly appeared in mid-December. The Nikkei reported that Nippon Oil Company, Inpex, and Japex were in talks to build a roughly US$4 billion oil refinery in Libya. All sources immediately denied the report, and it remains unclear if there was any substance to it at all. It may have been absolutely nothing, but we should mention it now just in case the story reappears in the future.