Libya's Gadhafi Delivers Rambling Speech in First UN Address
By VOA News
23 September 2009
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has denounced the United Nations Security Council, defended the Taliban, and critiqued decades of historic events during his first appearance before the U.N. General Assembly.
During a rambling, 96-minute speech, Gadhafi delivered remarks on a broad range of issues including swine flu, the 1963 assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy and the need for $7.77 trillion in reparations for Africa from former colonial powers.
Wearing brown robes and at times holding the U.N. charter, the Libyan leader called for giving Africa a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council and giving more power to the General Assembly. He also criticized the United Nations for failing to stop some 65 wars around the world since its creation in 1945.
He denounced U.S. military action in Iraqand Vietnam and defended Afghanistan's Taliban, saying the group should be allowed to create a religious state. Despite the criticisms, he still praised U.S. President Barack Obama, saying he wished Mr. Obama could remain president forever.
Ties between Libya and the United States have long been strained during Mr. Gadhafi's four decades in power. But relations improved in 2003 after Libya publicly abandoned its weapons of mass destruction program.
The move has not appeased critics still angry with Libya's role in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 270 people.
Some of that anger is behind local opposition in New York to where the Libyan leader stays while he is visiting.
Mr. Gadhafi often takes a large Bedouin tent on his trips abroad to meet and entertain guests, but this week New York authorities ordered workers to stop building the tent on an large estate owned by real estate developer and television personality Donald Trump in Bedford about 70 kilometers northeast of New York City.
Locals say a building inspector issued a stop work order because no legal permits were obtained.
A statement released by Trump's corporation says part of the 86-hectare estate was leased on a short-term basis to Trump's Middle Eastern partners, who "may or may not" have a relationship with the Libyan leader.
Earlier, the U.S. State Department rejected Mr. Gadhafi's plans to erect a tent at property owned by the Libyan embassy in New Jersey.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
