Libya coup anniversary tomorrow

President George Abela and his wife Margaret will be in Libya tomorrow to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Colonel Gaddafi’s coup – an event that most other Western leaders will not be attending.

The event has been described as the greatest party in Libya’s history, but thanks to the Lockerbie bomber release deal, it seems to have come at a bad time, diplomatically.

On September 1 1969, together with a group of soldiers, 27-year-old Gaddafi overthrew King Idris I in a bloodless revolution. The King was undergoing medical treatment at a Greek resort at the time.

The 40th anniversary will be marked with a six-day celebration and a military parade.

One of the organisers had said that French President Nicholas Sarkozy and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin would be attending, but both countries denied that they would have any involvement.

Meanwhile, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who launched a highway project in Tripoli yesterday has said that he will not be attending the parade.

This comes as Tripoli continues to take heat for the hero's welcome it offered convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi.

Mr Megrahi's release from a Scottish jail on compassionate grounds sparked angry US reactions and allegations that it was part of a deal to secure trade and other concessions from oil-rich Libya.

Libyan newspapers splashed photographs of the homecoming of Mr Megrahi, the only person convicted of involvement in the bombing of a Pan Am flight over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, killing 270 people including 180 Americans.

Television showed images of Colonel Gaddafi embracing the convicted bomber.