THEATRE OF THE ABSURD
Matt Frei sees
Colonel Gaddafi demonstrate his pugilistic prowess
Tripoli JOKES here about Colonel Gaddafi tend to ridicule his flamboyance. For instance: 'No bride would invite him to her wedding . . . because he would outdress her.'
Muammar Al Gaddafi, the son of impoverished herdsmen from Sirte and the leader of Libya's Green Revolution, is one of the world's greatest dressers, appearing on television, posters and murals all over Libya in various guises: as Muammar of Arabia, riding a camel wrapped in white bedhouin garb, as military officer in full regalia, as a star footballer, an oil engineer or a gardener who can make the Libyan desert look like Dorset. The personality cult is a familiar feature of the Middle East, but in Colonel Gaddafi it has found its most haute-couture incarnation.
Last week I witnessed Colonel Gaddafi greet heads of state at Benghazi airport for the opening ceremony of one of the world's largest irrigation projects, the so- called Great Man-Made River. He had chosen a relatively low-key outfit for the occasion: a shiny grey double-breasted jacket, a grey silk shirt with thick black horizontal stripes, matching trousers and a long flowing cape with gold lining. The grey cape fluttered in the wind, as Colonel Gaddafi strode out on to the tarmac three times to kiss and hug his guests. On the fourth occasion he went out to welcome Egypt's President Mubarak, his star guest. Halfway down the red carpet, Gaddafi suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. His entourage of bodyguards looked startled as he whisked off his grey cape, tossed it to one of his aides and shouted something. Seconds later a woman rushed out of the marbled VIP hall carrying a black cape. She draped it round Colonel Gaddafi, who propped up his chin in familiar pose and, looking like something out of Don Giovan- ni, proceeded down the long red carpet in long strides to welcome President Mubarak. What did this bizarre mid-way change of dress mean? Was Gaddafi bored with the grey cape? Did his most cherished guest deserve a black one? Colonel Gaddafi is meticulous about his wardrobe.
His style of government combines com- mon-or-garden despotism with the theatre of the absurd. At last week's inauguration of the Great Man-Made River, a $20 bil- lion project to pump fresh water from underground lakes in the desert in pipes to Libya's coastal strip, the 'Great Man River Builder', as Gaddafi is now hailed by the local press, choreographed an elaborate ceremony in the middle of the flat desert. A laser show painted pictures of moving camels onto a screen, fairy lights ringed the giant reservoir almost one kilometre in diameter, floodlights beamed vertically into the night sky, creating a vast dome of light. An 'international revolutionary guard' of women in green head-dresses, clutching Kalashnikovs, lined the red carpet. As the water cascaded down into the vast desert crater, Wagnerian music blared out from loudspeakers. While Colonel Gaddafi delivered his inevitable hoarse diatribe against American imperialism, over a thou- sand Libyan civilians rushed into the reser- voir, carrying portraits of their leader and imbibing the desert water. 'All sponta- neous,' I was assured by a Gaddafi aide.
There was one minor hitch. When a pro- cession of guests, including Yasser Arafat, King Hassan of Morocco and Hosni Mubarak of Egypt walked on to the cere- monial platform to unleash the water, a fist-fight broke out between some of Colonel Gaddafi's security men, who were unable to control a surging crowd of pho- tographers and President Mubarak's body- guards. The Egyptian president was almost crushed in the scrum. Finally, Colonel Gaddafi, who had barely finished kissing Yasser Arafat, blew a fuse and intervened, fists flying. The leader of the revolution charged into the crowd, hitting and cursing his incompetent security men. It was the first time I had ever seen a head of state punch someone in public.
Colonel Gaddafi is nothing if not impetuous. He was one of the few to applaud the coup against Mikhail Gor- bachev. Many Third World leaders would not shed a tear for the Soviet President who cut off their military and economic
aid, but most would also try to ingratiate themselves with the United States. Not so Colonel Gaddafi, who follows his anti- Western instincts rather than his intellect. He desperately needs American technolo- gy to revamp his ageing oil wells, which are unable to cope with the amounts of oil that Libya is entitled to produce according to Opec quotas. When I asked Colonel Gaddafi why the Western leaders invited to the Great Man-Made River Ceremony had not come, he laughed manically and muttered that they had all 'wanted to come' but had `no courage and are too afraid of America'. Perhaps they also did not want to be punched by Colonel Gaddafi.
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