Leaders say Libyans not to blame for Gaddafi's acts, accusing Britain of trading document for seized funds
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Chris McGreal in Benghazi
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 6 April 2011 22.05 BST
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Mustafa Abdul Jalil, chairman of the rebels’ council, has signed an apology for the role of Muammar Gaddafi's regime in the Lockerbie bombing. Photograph: Ben Curtis/AP
Libya's rebel administration has said that it signed an apology for the Gaddafi regime's role in IRA attacks and the Lockerbie bombing under pressure from the British government, and that the document is the result of "misunderstanding".
After initially denying that the document existed, the revolutionaries' governing council acknowledged that its chairman, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, had indeed signed an apology on behalf of the Libyan people for Gaddafi's provision of semtex used in IRA bombings and for the blowing up of the Pan Am flight in 1988. It also promised compensation.
Amid division and confusion over the declaration, which some blamed on a translation mix-up, council officials said that the issue of the Libyan government's responsibility for attacks in the UK came up only because it was pressed on the revolutionary administration by the British.
Officials in the rebel government say the Lockerbie and IRA issues are not a priority for them given that they are fighting a military campaign to overthrow Gaddafi while trying to administer the rebel-held areas. They say that there are few Libyans who believe they are responsible for Gaddafi's acts or that they should apologise for him.
Council officials privately said that the Foreign Office pressed Jalil to invite a British lawyer, Jason McCue, head of the Libya Victims Initiative, to Benghazi. McCue arrived saying that he was seeking an "unequivocal apology" in the name of the Libyan people and $10m compensation for each death in IRA attacks. All of his demands were met by Jalil.
Council officials said that they regarded McCue as working with a team of British diplomats in Benghazi, led by the UK's ambassador to Rome, Christopher Prentice. Prentice has declined to talk to the press. A council spokesman, Essam Gheriani, said that Jalil had had little choice but to sign as part of the rebel administration's attempts to win diplomatic recognition and gain access to desperately needed funds frozen overseas.
"The whole world knows the Libyan people are not responsible for Gaddafi's acts over 40 years. An apology is not warranted for the simple reason that the Libyan people did not participate in these acts," said Gheriani. "But there is the situation in the international arena."
Britain is holding about £100m in Libyan currency seized from a ship that could be released to the rebel administration, which is needs funds to meet next month's civil service pay roll as well as for imports of food.
Asked if Jalil was pressured by Britain, Gheriani said: "It depends on how you define pressure. I request something from you when you want something from me. It could be defined as pressure."
Four countries – France, Italy, Qatar and Kuwait – have recognised the transitional council as the de facto government of Libya. Besides the British envoy, there are diplomatic missions from several other countries, including Turkey, as well as an EU delegation visiting Benghazi.
"The international arena is the most important for the time being, more important than the military front," said Gheriani. "We need those frozen assets. They will be frozen until they have a legitimate body they can be released to, so we need recognition. This is essential for us."
The rebels are also negotiating with an American envoy sent to Benghazi, Chris Stevens, who served at the US embassy in Tripoli until it was shut down. The US holds about $30bn in frozen Libyan assets. It is unlikely to offer full diplomatic recognition to the rebel administration in the short term but a state department spokesman, Mark Toner, said Washington was looking for ways to get some of that money to the revolutionary council.
"We are going to look at some ways to enable them to meet some of their financial needs and how we can help to do that through the international community, given the challenge of sanctions," he said.
But given the ever present fears among American politicians of Islamism, Stevens is seeking specific commitments on a future democratic system, respect for human rights and a commitment to the struggle against al-Qaida.
The revolutionary council's desperation to avoid even a hint of Islamism has led it to deny repeatedly that rebel-held areas have been infiltrated by followers of Osama bin Laden, most recently after an assertion by the US's Nato operations commander, Admiral James Stavridis, that "flickers" of al-Qaida and Hezbollah had been detected in the Libyan uprising.
The rebel leadership dismisses such claims but recognises that they have to be addressed. "It's taking up our time and effort replying to those fears and apprehensions, that we are not al-Qaida. But we have to say it every time," said Gheriani.
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