The former Libyan intelligence chief who has defected to Britain has been implicated in the Lockerbie bombing and a number of other atrocities conducted by the regime of Col Muammar Gaddafi.
Moussa Koussa in close attendance as his former boss gives out at an Arab League leaders summit Photo: Abd Rabbo Ammar Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent, and Christopher Hope 8:07PM
BST 31 Mar 2011
However, in recent years he has also become an important contact for both MI6 and the CIA as they attempted to rehabilitate the regime, according to sources and leaked US diplomatic cables.
The Daily Telegraph understands that MI6 had discussed his desire to leave Libya in recent days but was not expecting his escape.
Moussa Muhammad Koussa is the man closest to Col Muammar Gaddafi to have defected, arriving in Britain a week after his 65th birthday.
Western educated, he attended Michigan State University, earning a degree in sociology in 1978 before working in various Libyan embassies across Europe, probably as an intelligence officer.
He was appointed as Libya's Ambassador to Britain in 1980 but soon afterwards he was expelled from the country after claiming, on the steps of the embassy, that the Gaddafi regime had decided the night before to kill two dissidents in Britain, apparently adding: "I approve of this."
Related Articles
Cameron: 'Koussa could face Lockerbie prosecution' 31 Mar 2011
Koussa's defection poses a dilemma for Cameron 31 Mar 2011
Will Moussa Koussa regret his decision? 31 Mar 2011
Back in Libya he became director of the World Centre for Resistance to Imperialism, in charge of attempting to propagate the Gaddafi revolution worldwide, but it is unlikely he ever left the Libyan intelligence agency, Jamahiriya el-Mukhabarat, and by the late 1980s he was deputy head of the service.
Western intelligence agencies have claimed Mr Koussa was involved in the planning of the attack on Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988 over Lockerbie which killed 270 people.
He has also been accused of complicity in the destruction of a French airliner over Niger in 1989, the bombing of a disco in Germany, and supplying arms to the IRA as Gaddafi’s regime wrought havoc across the world.
Always involved in secret intelligence, he served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1992 to 1994 and then as the head of the Libyan intelligence agency from 1994 to 2009.
However, a few weeks after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Mr Koussa led a delegation to London for talks with MI6 and CIA officials.
He went on to become a key figure in the normalisation of relations between Libya, Britain and the US as Libya abandoned its chemical weapons and paid compensation to the victims of their attacks. In that role and as head of Libyan intelligence, he also became well-known to his counterparts.
He was also central to securing the release of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the Libyan intelligence officer found guilty of the Lockerbie bombing, after meeting officials from the government and Scottish executive in October 2008 and January 2009.
US diplomatic cables published by the WikiLeaks website and seen by the Daily Telegraph, reveal that Mr Koussa told the British Ambassador Sir Vincent Fean that the bomber of Flight 103 was a “a very ill man, too ill for anything but a quiet return to his family”, days before he was released.
Mr Koussa also promised that the bomber’s reception would be low key – later admitting it was a “big mistake” when he was given a hero’s welcome.
A communiqué sent in late May 2009, relates how Mr Koussa boasted to a visiting US general of his connections with the CIA.
In another cable from May 2009, a US diplomat said: “Kusa [sic] is one of the most influential figures in the regime and has been a proponent of improved ties with the United States…
“Kusa is the rare Libyan official who embodies a combination of intellectual acumen, operational ability and political weight. Promoting specific areas of cooperation with him is an opportunity to have him cast that message in terms palatable to Libya’s leadership.”
He is credited in the secret cables as being a member of Gaddafi’s “inner circle” and a “mentor” to Gaddafi’s son Mutassim, who became the country’s National Security Adviser, serving as his “minder” during a visit to the US in September 2007, in the cables.
On 4 March 2009, Mr Koussa was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in a ministerial reshuffle announced by the Libyan parliament.
Despite his influence, there have been rumours that he has been pushed to edge of Gaddafi’s inner circle.
According to one leaked cable, he privately expressed exasperation with Mutassim and late last year unconfirmed rumours circulated in Tripoli that another of Gaddafi's sons had had an argument with the minister and punched him in the face in front of several other people.
At an international summit in Tripoli in December, he was described as a “forlorn figure, alone and smoking heavily in the public areas of the summit venue while Gaddafi's intimates were cloistered in a private room.”
Nevertheless in the past month he has appeared on Libyan state television accusing the United States and Britain of "yearning for the colonial era" and seeking to divide the country.
Mr Koussa has done well to escape, with Gaddafi drawing many of his circle closely around him at his compound in Tripoli.
He left Tripoli by car on Monday and arrived in Tunis via the Ras Ejder border crossing, where TAP, the official news agency said he was on a "private visit."
Two days later, he left from Djerba airport on a Swiss-registered private jet, arriving at Farnborough Airfield.
The Libyans initially said he was on a diplomatic mission but yesterday they admitted he had abandoned the regime.
Asked whether Gaddafi and his children were still in Libya, a spokesman, Mussa Ibrahim, said: "Be assured, we are all here. We will all be here until the end. It is our country. We are strong on all fronts."
No comments:
Post a Comment