Libya celebrates 40 years of Kadhafi's leadership

2009-09-01

Libya is looking ahead to greater political and economic openness, as well as back upon its rich cultural heritage, in festivities on the occasion of 40 years of rule by leader Moamer Kadhafi.

Jamel Arfaoui in Tunis contributed to this report for Magharebia – 01/09/09

[Imed Lamloum/AFP/Getty Images] Libya is celebrating the 40th anniversary of Moamer Kadhafi's rule with festivities, decorations, and visits by foreign dignitaries.

Libya is marking 40 years of rule by Moamer Kadhafi with huge festivities and a flood of foreign dignitaries that affirm the country's openness to wider trade and political ties.

"The capital has turned into a beehive," businessman Khaled Ben Mansour said of the week-long event that begins on Tuesday (September 1st). "I think they want the celebrations to be huge and historical."

"I also believe they'll spend a lot of money; they're used to that," Mansour said of the event, which will showcase dance and music performances with both international and uniquely Libyan themes. "Tripoli hosts dozens of different Arab and African conferences all year long."

Prominent among those invited to the celebration or already on hand are Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. High-level delegations are also expected from China, the Philippines and Malta, among others.

To showcase Libya's growing openness for this international audience, there has been "no limit on spending to beautify the face of [Tripoli]", according to the director of the Canadian company organizing the celebrations, Philippe Skaff. The city is elaborately decorated with works of art honouring Kadhafi, who came to power in 1969 in a bloodless coup against King Idris.

The celebration's kick-off event, a colossal musical extravaganza featuring dancers from as far away as Sweden and France, is projected to draw an audience of 750,000, according to The Tripoli Post.

But the festivities are not limited to Tripoli; local press reports that musicians from around the world will perform in the ancient Roman city of Sabratha. The city of Ghadames will host a huge showcase of Libyan history, customs and traditions involving 400 actors and performers.

Political analysts say that Libya's months-long, around-the-clock preparations for the celebration aim to confirm its return to the international arena after a decade of isolation, and to rub out the once widely-held image of the country as a terrorism sponsor with a desire to acquire weapons of mass destruction.

The event also seems aimed at reaffirming Libya's role in the Maghreb, with Tunisian President Ben Ali's arrival here a full day before the start of celebrations providing a clear indication of the importance the two countries attach to their bilateral ties.

As a measure of the importance of intra-Maghreb connections, Libya is Tunisia's biggest Arab trade partner. Libya accounts for about 7% of Tunisia's exports, and Tunisia imports the same percentage of Libya's total exports, not including oil. Both figures are expected to rise to 10% by 2012.

The festivities are slightly shadowed by two issues: Libya's human rights situation, and the release and subsequent homecoming of terrorist Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber.

Megrahi, who was serving a minimum term of 27 years in a Scottish prison for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over the village of Lockerbie, was diagnosed with prostate cancer last year and subsequently benefitted from "compassionate release" by Scotland. Libya's warm homecoming for the convicted terrorist earned condemnation around the globe, and some world leaders are reportedly showing their displeasure by skipping this week's celebration.

On the domestic front, Libya was criticised by the Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), whose August 29th report tackled the issue of freedom under Kadhafi.

The report states that "The Libyan people are one of very few peoples in the contemporary world that have had no elections or rotation of power for over four decades … This is in addition to the absence of free press, party life and real civil institutions."

ANHRI was not alone in expressing scepticism about Libya's state of affairs on the 40th anniversary of Kadhafi's rule.

"Each time, we hear that [Libya] is about to enter into a stage of openness and re-arrangement of its internal affairs so that it can be a modern country," said Thamer Ben Mahmoud, a frequent business traveller to Libya. "However, chaos usually prevails in the end."

On both the internal and external fronts, however, Libya has recently scored successes. Domestically, the country has benefitted from a reported cessation of hostilities by the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, which issued a letter in July declaring their violent mission a failure.

Internationally, Libya's image has been burnished by mediating talks aimed at ending the conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan.

"I'm very impressed and very grateful for the role that the Libyans are playing not only in rebel unification but in bringing peace between Chad and Sudan," said US spécial envoy for Sudan Scott Gration, quoted in The Tripoli Press.