Gaddafi's UN questions, answered

The Libyan leader has made some rather unexpected allegations. Help us find out if there's any truth to them


guardian.co.uk, Thursday 24 September 2009 11.00 BST Article history
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi addresses the UN general assembly in New York. Photograph: Ray Stubblebine/Reuters
Muammar Gaddafi raised some interesting questions during his 100-minute speech at the United Nations general assembly. We've decided to apply the Guardian's famous crowdsourcing techniques to get to the bottom of things. So:

1. Who killed JFK?






2. Is the security council really an al-Qaida-like terrorist body?








3. Is swine flu a biological weapon created in a military laboratory?









4. Is the general assembly like Speakers' Corner?

Over to you ...















Mkutano kuhusu Libya unafanyika Italia











Kundi la kimataifa kuhusu Libya, maarufu kama Contact Group, linakutana leo mjini Roma, Italia kujadili mzozo nchini humo.

Italia itatumia mkutano huo kupendekeza njia za kutatua mzozo huo, kama vile kuweka makataa ya kuendelea kwa shughuli za kijeshi nchini Libya.

Msaada kwa waasi nchini Libya pia utajadiliwa.

Muungano huo wa kimataifa kuhusu Libya unajumuisha washirika wa Muungano wa NATO, mataifa ya kiarabu na makundi mengine.


Ikiwa ni majuma 11 tangu mzozo huo uanze, muungano huo una maswala mengi ya kujadili.

Miongoni mwa maswala yatakayo jadiliwa ni iwapo kundi hilo litatoa msaada kwa waasi walioko mashariki mwa nchi, upatao dola billioni 3 , ili waweza kulipia dawa, chakula na vifaa vingine.

Huenda wakaafikiana kuhusu jinsi ya kuwasaidia kwa muda. Pia, huenda wakajadili vipi waasi wanaweza kuanza kuuza mafuta ili waweze kujifadhili.

Italia pia inataka kutafuta njia ya kuweka makataa kwa shughuli za kijeshi zinazoendelea. Wanachama wengine wa kundi hilo huenda wakaona vigumu kukubali pendekezo hilo hasa wakati mzozo huo ukionekana bado haujapata suluhu.











Gaddafi blasts big powers in first U.N. speech









(Reuters) - Muammar Gaddafi, in his first address to the United Nations in 40 years as Libya's autocratic ruler, on Wednesday accused major powers on the Security Council of betraying the principles of the U.N. charter.

"The preamble (of the charter) says all nations are equal whether they are small or big," Gaddafi said in a long, rambling speech during which he chastised his audience for falling asleep.

After reading from a copy of the U.N. charter, Gaddafi condemned the veto power held by five permanent of the council, at one point referring to it as the "terror council." Speaking through an interpreter, he said: "The veto is against the charter, we do not accept it and we do not acknowledge it."

Clad in a copper-colored robe with an emblem of Africa pinned over his chest, the Libyan leader dropped his paperback copy of the charter on the podium several times before tossing it over his shoulder.

Gaddafi, who touched on subjects ranging from the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, the U.S. invasion of Grenada and free medicine for the world's children, spoke for 1 hour and 35 minutes.

It was not a record-breaker -- in 1960 Cuba's Fidel Castro blasted U.S. imperialism for about four hours -- but it threw out the U.N.'s scheduling on a day when many leaders were down to speak.

TELLS DELEGATES TO WAKE UP

A number of delegates left the hall and at one point the Libyan leader complained about the tired appearance of the audience. "Please can I have your attention," he said. "All of you are tired, having jet lag. ... You are tired. All of you are asleep."

Many countries have been upset by Libya's warm public reception for a Libyan official convicted of involvement in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing attack who was released by Scotland last month on health grounds.

In Washington, as Gaddafi was speaking, the U.S. Senate approved a resolution condemning the "lavish" welcome home ceremony and demanded that Libya apologize.

That was about the only issue Gaddafi did not touch on in his speech.

His presence prompted some protests and wide interest in New York. He tried unsuccessful to get permission to pitch a Bedouin tent he likes to stay in Central Park and in two other sites near New York City.

The United States, Britain, France, Russia and China are permanent veto-wielding members of the Security Council, the most powerful body within the United Nations. Libya has a temporary council seat and will be on the 15-nation panel until the end of this year.

"Veto power should be annulled," Gaddafi said.

"The Security Council did not provide us with security but with terror and sanctions," he told leaders gathered for the opening day of the 192-nation General Assembly.

PRAISE FOR OBAMA

Gaddafi, who spoke just after U.S. President Barack Obama, said the fact that "65 wars" have broken out since the U.N. was established more than 60 years ago proved its founding principles had been betrayed.

"The election of Obama is the beginning of change," he said and applauded Obama's stated commitment to nuclear disarmament. Other U.S. presidents, he said, had terrorizing his region.

The United States began lifting its sanctions and normalizing relations with Tripoli after Gaddafi said he was abandoning Libya's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs in December 2003.

The Libyan leader, who has long been one of the harshest critics of Israel in the Middle East, did not lash out at the Jewish state. Instead, he reiterated his call for a single state in which Jews and Palestinians would live together.

"The solution is a democratic state without religious fanaticism," he said. "Everybody should live in peace. Isratine, Isratine is the solution."

Although he dismissed the Security Council as illegitimate, Gaddafi, who currently chairs the African Union, reiterated Africa's call for a permanent council seat.

He also said that Africa deserved compensation totaling $7.77 trillion from its past colonial masters for damages sustained during the colonial period.
















Gaddafi's Son Killed









Thousands of Libyans attended today's funeral of Saif Al-Arab Gaddafi, the youngest son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed after air strikes by coalition forces last Saturday together with his 3 children (grandchildren of Gaddafi). The funeral took place at the El hani cemetery in Tripoli on Monday, May 2, 2011.



Crowds gathered at other places in Tripoli as well and were chanting Muammar Gaddafi's name. The NATO airstrike that aimed to kill Muammar Gaddafi and his family directly, and has therefore nothing to do with the no-fly-zone that is mandated by the U.N., raised new questions about the role of Western powers in the uprising against the Libyan leader.








Libyans attend the funeral of Saif Al-Arab Gaddafi, son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed after air strikes by coalition forces last Saturday.



Libyans attend the funeral of Saif al-Arab, the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed after air strikes by coalition forces last Saturday, at the El hani cemetery in Tripoli May 2, 2011.




Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi (C) and his half brother Mohamed Gaddafi (L) pray during the funeral of Saif Al-Arab Gaddafi, the youngest son of Muammar Gaddafi who was killed after air strikes by coalition forces last Saturday, at the El Hani cemetery in Tripoli May 2, 2011. Crowds chanting Muammar Gaddafi's name gathered in Tripoli on Monday for the funeral of his son and three grandchildren, killed in a NATO airstrike that has raised new questions about the role of Western powers in the uprising against the Libyan leader.




Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi (C) leaves after the funeral of his brother Saif Al-Arab Gaddafi, who was killed after air strikes by coalition forces last Saturday, at the El Hani cemetery in Tripoli May 2, 2011.


Crowds chanting Muammar Gaddafi's name gathered in Tripoli on Monday for the funeral of his son and three grandchildren, killed in a NATO airstrike that has raised new questions about the role of Western powers in the uprising against the Libyan leader.





Libyans pray during the funeral of Saif Al-Arab Gaddafi, son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed after air strikes by coalition forces last Saturday, at the El Hani cemetery in Tripoli May 2, 2011. Crowds chanting Muammar Gaddafi's name gathered in Tripoli on Monday for the funeral of his son and three grandchildren, killed in a NATO airstrike that has raised new questions about the role of Western powers in the uprising against the Libyan leader.






Libyans attend the funeral of Saif Al-Arab Gaddafi, the youngest son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed after air strikes by coalition forces last Saturday, at the El Hani cemetery in Tripoli May 2, 2011. Crowds chanting Muammar Gaddafi's name gathered in Tripoli on Monday for the funeral of his son and three grandchildren, killed in a NATO airstrike that has raised new questions about the role of Western powers in the uprising against the Libyan leader.





A supporter of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi holds up a poster of Gaddafi during the funeral of his youngest son Saif Al-Arab Gaddafi,





who was killed after air strikes by coalition forces last Saturday, at the El Hani cemetery in Tripoli May 2, 2011. Crowds chanting Muammar Gaddafi's name gathered in Tripoli on Monday for the funeral of his son and three grandchildren, killed in a NATO airstrike that has raised new questions about the role of Western powers in the uprising against the Libyan leader.