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| Friday, 24 December 2004 |
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Saudi to expel Libyan envoy over alleged plot to kill crown prince RIYADH, Thursday (AFP) Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday it had recalled its ambassador from Libya and will expel the Libyan envoy in Riyadh over Tripoli's alleged role in a plot to asssassinate Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz. Libya expressed its surprise at the Saudi decision and called for the Arab League to launch an investigation into the affair. "We have asked our ambassador in Libya to come (back) and we will hand a memorandum to the Libyan ambassador asking him to leave," Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told reporters. The move was related to "the Libyan plot to which the kingdom was subjected," he said. Details of the purported plot to assassinate Abdullah, de facto ruler of the oil-rich kingdom, came to light earlier this year when an American Muslim activist pleaded guilty to illegal financial dealings with Libya and testified that he had been involved in a Libyan plan to kill the prince. Tripoli has denied involvement in such a conspiracy. Saud al-Faisal said his country was not taking more retaliatory measures against Libya at the moment. "Despite the ugliness of what happened, the kingdom is confining itself to these measures ... in appreciation of the brotherly Libyan people, especially with the approach of the hajj season," he said, referring to the annual pilgrimage to Muslim holy sites in Saudi Arabia. A statement from the Libyan foreign ministry expressed "its great surprise at declarations by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal on the recalling of its ambassador to Libya ... Nothing has happened between the two countries to justify this. "If the recalling is linked to accusations concerning an assassination attempt against the Saudi crown prince, these have been denied and they have been proven unfounded." The statement said that the accusations were made "a long time ago. So why wasn't the ambassador recalled then?" The ministry called on "the Arab League secretary general to carry out an enquiry into this surprising affair in order to know Arabia's motives" behind the decision. Riyadh's decision to expel the Libyan envoy came one day after the United States announced it had put a leading London-based Saudi dissident, Saad al-Faqih, and another Saudi on its list of terrorist financiers and was asking the United Nations to sanction them as well. Meanwhile.allegations of Libya's involvement in a plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler have put a brake on US efforts to improve ties with the supposedly reformed rogue state, US officials said. "I would say that the reports and the information has 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. But Boucher said the assassination plot, first reported by the New York Times in June, "is an issue that we have taken seriously" and have raised repeatedly with the government of Libyan leader Muammer 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. |
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