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Libya Recalls Ambassador To Saudi Arabia Amid Row With Riyadh
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In
this Saturday, March 1, image made from television, Crown Prince
Abdullah of Saudi Arabia angrily interrupts Libyan leader Moammar
Gadhafi during the Arab League summit
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TRIPOLI,
March 3 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Libya is to recall its
ambassador to Riyadh for consultations following Saturday's Arab
summit clash between Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi and Saudi Crown
Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, an official statement said Monday,
March 3.
The
statement said the decision was taken by the Libyan parliament, the
General People's Congress, which expressed its "discontent' at
what it called Prince Abdullah's "aggression" towards
Kadhafi, agence France-Presse (AFP) said.
It
also said the congress would review relations between Tripoli and
Riyadh and Libya's membership of the Arab League.
Television
viewers across the Arab world saw Abdullah cursing Kadhafi at
Saturday's Arab summit in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm
el-Sheikh.
"Who
exactly brought you to power?" the Saudi royal asked the Libyan
leader, alluding to suggestions that his 1969 overthrow of the
British-backed monarchy had U.S. support.
"You
are a liar and your grave awaits you," the crown prince said.
Kadhafi
had roundly criticized Saudi support for the United States at the
summit that focused on U.S.-led war threats against Iraq, saying that King
Fahd had been ready to "strike an alliance with the devil"
to defend the kingdom after Iraq's 1990 invasion of neighboring
Kuwait.
The
spat sparked demonstrations by thousands of Libyans near the Saudi
embassy here, and on Monday Saudi daily newspaper Okaz said Kadhafi's
regime posed more of a threat to the Arab world than foreign powers
and should be toppled.
Libya
had announced on October 24 it wanted to quit the Arab League for
failing to do much to stop Israel's aggression against the
Palestinians and U.S. threats of war against Iraq.
League
Secretary General Amr Mussa was only able to persuade Kadhafi to
suspend the move, but in December 2002 official media quoted him as
saying Tripoli will stick by its decision "as long as the League
charter is not re-activated and respected in a way that guarantees
effective Arab action against the dangers facing the Arab world."
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