Lockerbie overshadows Libyan festivities

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Libya staged a lavish spectacle Tuesday, parading white-robed horsemen and gold-turbaned dancers as jets streaked overhead to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the coup that brought Moammar Gadhafi to power in the oil-rich nation.

The four-day festivities were designed to highlight the volatile leader’s acceptance on the world stage but were overshadowed by new controversies about the return of the only man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing. Though African leaders held a summit to coincide with the celebrations, most Western leaders stayed away.

The Libyan leader, known for his outlandish outfits and penchant for conducting state business in tents, kicked off the celebrations before dawn Tuesday, timed to coincide with the start of the coup, with a feast at a former U.S. air base that was later turned into a Libyan military camp.

Addressing the audience, Gadhafi said that as a young Libyan lieutenant he’d been barred from entering the base by an American soldier.

“I told the soldier: ‘You’ll see what the future has in store,’” said Gadhafi. “I don’t think the American soldier quite measured the scope of my words.”

The return home of Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the only man convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing that killed 270 people, overshadowed the celebrations. Scottish officials released him Aug. 20 on compassionate grounds because doctors said he was suffering from terminal prostate cancer and had only three months to live. But his release and warm homecoming in Libya outraged many of the victims’ families and U.S. officials.

Intense public pressure over al-Megrahi’s release has sent the British and Scottish governments scrambling to respond. On Tuesday, both governments made public their correspondence on his release showing some British officials advised Scotland’s government that there were no legal obstacles to returning al-Megrahi to Libya.

Other documents showed British Justice Secretary Jack Straw initially believed al-Megrahi should be excluded from a prisoner- transfer agreement signed between the U.K. and Libya but later changed his mind — saying he did not wish to damage the “beneficial relationship” between the two countries.

“Developing a strong relationship with Libya, and helping it to reintegrate into the international community, is good for the U.K.,” Straw said in that letter to Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond.

“Libya is one of only two countries to have ever voluntarily and transparently dismantled its weapons of mass destruction program. Having sponsored terrorist attacks in the past, it is now an important partner in the fight against terrorism.”

The man at the center of the spiraling debate has been hospitalized in Tripoli this week, and Libyan officials said Tuesday his health was quickly deteriorating since his return home. Asked how long al-Megrahi still has to live, the head of Libyan State Information Agency, Majid al-Dursi, said: “Only God knows ... but he is dying now.”