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| Mbeki: I was Gaddafi's No 1 enemy |
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 This was revealed by Mbeki on the sidelines of the unveiling of 19th-century African intellectual Tiyo Soga's tombstone in Centane, Eastern Cape, on Friday.Mbeki described his relationship with Gaddafi as bad. "I personally had a very bad relationship when I was president of South Africa, because the Libyans were doing wrong things all over the continent. We objected to that, we stood up to that," he said. "Even with regards to what should happen to the African Union, we had a running battle, because again we thought they were proposing wrong things we should not have in the continent ... in reality, Gaddafi talking to other heads of state on the continent, he used to say I was his enemy number one. I'd (say) to him directly that I'm going to oppose all these wrong things you want to do ... not because I am your enemy." He said that while Gaddafi's rule was illegitimate, it remained the responsibility of the Libyans to decide their future. "Clearly, the political system was wrong. Where the Libyans wanted to democratize, we should certainly support that. We should say, as was said with regard to Egypt and Tunisia, 'Why don't you let the people of this country sort this thing out,' as Egyptians are trying to do, as the Tunisians are trying to do. Libyans should have had the same space." The United Nations claim that Gaddafi was planning to mow down thousands of civilians in Benghazi was a "lie" used to justify the imposition of a no-fly zone over Libya, said Mbeki. "Tiyo Soga said for us to liberate ourselves, let us respect the truth and not allow ourselves to be misled ... there was a story that was planted that said that Gaddafi was going to attack Benghazi and kill thousands of people. Now you have very respectable international organizations saying that was a lie. "Indeed, Gaddafi had said, 'We are going to go to Benghazi to go and find these people who have taken up arms against the government, as any government would. But we'd even open space for them to be able to run away or even go to Egypt, because we don't necessarily want to kill them.'" Mbeki was the main speaker at the unveiling, organized by women's empowerment group Wiphold and Nedbank. He continued to criticize the United Nations and NATO. (Source: timeslive.co.za)   Socialize this Subscribe to our RSS feed to stay in touch and receive all of TT updates right in your feed reader
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