[Excerpt: "If the recall is because of this false charge about an assassination attempt on the Crown Prince, this has been denied and proven to be incorrect...."Enough time has passed over this issue. Why wasn't the ambassador withdrawn at that time?".....Calling on Saudi Arabia to explain its action, Chaouch said Libya would raise the issue with Arab League Secretary-General Amr Mousa.] _http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/WorldNF.asp?ArticleID=145021_ (http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/WorldNF.asp?ArticleID=145021) Published: 24/12/2004, 08:58 (UAE)
US puts normalisation of Libya ties on hold Agencies Washington/Cairo: Allegations of Libya's involvement in a plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince have put a brake on US efforts to improve ties with the supposedly reformed state, US officials said Wednesday. "I would say that the reports and the information have already impacted the speed at which we can move forward with Libya and will continue to until it's cleared up," said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher. He made his remarks after Saudi Arabia said it had recalled its ambassador from Libya and would expel the Libyan envoy in Riyadh over Tripoli's alleged role in a plot to assassinate Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz last year. Libya had become a posterchild for US claims of success against global terrorism after it agreed to a settlement in the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jetliner and renounced weapons of mass destruction last year. But Boucher said the assassination plot, first reported in June, "is an issue that we have taken seriously" and have raised repeatedly with the government of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. "The Libyans provided us with some explanation, not sufficient for us or any others to reach a definitive judgment on the matter at this point," he said. The spokesman said that Washington was still studying whether to take Libya off the US list of terrorism sponsors, although Tripoli had taken "significant steps" to renounce its past support for political violence. "We have also made clear that we need to see this pledge to avoid the use of violence for political ends sustained, carried out, and effectively. "And so that [the assassination report] is a matter that continues to impinge upon the decision," he said. Libya meanwhile said it was surprised Saudi Arabia had recalled its ambassador to Tripoli and insisted there was no plot to assassinate Crown Prince Abdullah. "(We are) surprised that ... Saudi Arabia has decided to withdraw its ambassador from its brother Libya," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassouna Chaouch told Al Jazeera TV. "If the recall is because of this false charge about an assassination attempt on the Crown Prince, this has been denied and proven to be incorrect. "Enough time has passed over this issue. Why wasn't the ambassador withdrawn at that time?" Calling on Saudi Arabia to explain its action, Chaouch said Libya would raise the issue with Arab League Secretary-General Amr Mousa. The league on its part said yesterday it was holding intensive contacts to defuse the crisis. Mousa said he had been in contact with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and Libya, Prince Saud Al Faisal and Abdul Rahman Shalgham. "We will continue our contacts. The issue is not open to public discussion and we are dealing with it with the aim of containing the situation and not worsening it," Mousa told reporters. enditem UNRESTRICTED [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
