The truth beneath the rainbow

Libyan Ambassador Saadun Suayeh gave a rare press conference yesterday, in which he shifted between his personal views and those of the regime.

Sitting underneath a stylised portrait of Muammar Gaddafi in a sitting room crowded with journalists, the ambassador insisted he could not resign.

In his first public appearance since protesters asked him to denounce the Libyan regime’s brutal repression of protests by resigning his post, Dr Suayeh condemned the violence in his country and expressed his condolences to those who lost loved ones in the unrest.

His condemnation was stronger than the initial comment he gave timesofmalta.com in a telephone interview earlier in the week that the deaths were “regrettable”.

Soft-spoken, in complete contrast to the vitriolic speech delivered by Col. Gaddafi earlier this week, Dr Suayeh said he had to continue serving his country and the Libyan people, including those who called for his resignation during protests outside the embassy.

The green Libyan flag, which protesters wanted replaced with the pre-1969 one, still fluttered on the roof and a larger-than-life poster of Col. Gaddafi in sunglasses still dominated the main hallway.

Outside, a large contingent of police officers kept vigil but there were no protesters yesterday, unlike the situation earlier in the week.

Dr Suayeh started with a reflection on the symbolism offered by a rainbow he saw in the morning while driving to the embassy.

“A rainbow has different colours but they are harmonious together. This is the picture I would like to see in my country – a Libya united in its diversity,” he said.

It was the country’s unity that was at stake, he added, repeating the Libyan government’s official line that unrest was caused by foreign Al-Qaeda operatives, who had duped Libyan youth into joining the insurgency.

Playing down talk of a popular revolution and instead describing the protesters as insurgents, Dr Suayeh said it would be catastrophic for Europe if the eastern part of Libya was allowed to become an Islamist “emirate”.

He said life was normal in Tripoli and the west of Libya despite reports that protesters yesterday clashed with pro-government forces in the coastal town of Az-Zawiyah, about 50 kilometres to the west of the capital.

He said the number of those who died in Libya was being exaggerated and the official death toll was about 300.

Like the regime, Dr Suayeh admonished the media for painting a distorted picture and insisted journalists were welcome to visit Libya and discover the truth for themselves. It was almost a surreal invitation since journalists have been denied visas to enter Libya with international networks relying on phone-camera footage and telephone conversations with individuals inside Libya to know what is going on.

Dr Suayeh said Maltese journalists would be taken to Libya to verify the facts but no arrangements had yet been made.

It seems that, with its back to the wall, the Libyan regime was trying to embark on a charm offensive.

Ambassadors accredited to Libya were summoned for a meeting by the Libyan Foreign Office on Wednesday night, when they were given the government’s official line that the “insurgency” was fuelled by Al-Qaeda operatives. However, a promised tour of Tripoli, to purportedly show ambassadors it was not true military aircraft bombed civilians, that had to be held yesterday morning did not happen, according to Maltese Ambassador George Cassar.

Dr Suayeh, who never mentioned Col Gaddafi by name, acknowledged that reforms were needed in his country but insisted change had to come through evolution not revolution.

“We do have problems with human rights but which country does not have such problems? Until some time ago, Europeans were rushing to invest in Libya and they never mentioned human rights as a problem,” Dr Suayeh said, hitting a raw nerve for many European governments under fire by human rights organisations for having propped up Col Gaddafi’s regime.

He said the Libyan government had formed a committee headed by a judge to investigate the events of the past few days and present a report to the People’s Congress. The government would not interfere in its workings and the report would be published.

The ambassador said he was working around the clock with the Maltese Foreign Ministry to help workers return to Malta.

“Call me what you like but what would have happened had there been no ambassador here,” he asked.

ksansone@timesofmalta.com