Tripoli, Friday.
LIBYAN leader Muammar Gaddafi today proclaimed Tripoli the Mecca of
guerrillas from Northern Ireland to the Philippines. He also urged Arab
guerrillas such as Abu Nidal, sought by the West for a string of
bombings and kidnappings, to return to Libya.
Gaddafi refuted the labelling of these men and the IRA as terrorists.
''We know who the terrorists are,'' he said.
Gaddafi had assured the West he had cut ties with world guerrilla
groups in compliance with a UN resolution imposed over the Lockerbie
bombing.
Diplomats said his latest comments, made at a rally yesterday in the
Libyan city of Zawia, were an attempt to scare the West.
''We are the Mecca of freedom fighters and their natural ally. We are
the first to welcome them, from Ireland to the Philippines,'' Gaddafi
said in his speech reported by Libya's official Jana news agency.
He castigated Western countries as ''the enemies of humanity and
criminals of war''.
Jana said the rally was attended by dozens of leaders of Arab radical
movements.
A ''Democratic Revolutionary Arab Dialogue'' was held in Triploi on
Wednesday which brought together radical leftists, Muslim clerics, and
militia leaders from Egypt, Algeria, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan.
Diplomats said it was probably the biggest such meeting in Libya since
the UN sanctions were imposed 19 months ago.
In his speech Gaddafi again refused to surrender two Libyan suspects
for trial in the United States and Britain for the 1988 Lockerbie
bombing in which 270 people were killed.
''Libya acts according to its interests,'' he said. ''Our interests
mean we meet Abu Nidal, Abu Abbas, Ahmed Jibril, Abu Mussa, and all real
Palestinian leaders and those of the true resistance.''
The four Palestinian leaders all oppose the PLO peace accord with
Israel. Abu Nidal is listed by the US as the world's most wanted
guerrilla. Ahmed Jibril and Abu Moussa lead Damascus-based factions
opposing PLOs chairman Yasser Arafat.
Jibril is believed to have organised plane hijackings and has been
associated with the Lockerbie bombing. Abu Abbas's men hijacked the
cruise liner Achille Lauro in the Mediterranean in 1985.--Reuter.
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