Colonel Moammar el Gadaffi

In South Africa this week for the launch of the African Union he spoke up for Libya's Colonel Moammar el Gadaffi who in May paid Zambia's arrears to the AU's predecessor the Organisation of African Unity (OAU)...

The reformers are led by South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo and Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade (even though their own reform records are less than stellar); the dissidents led by Libya's Colonel Moammar el Gadaffi are a motley collection of autocrats such as Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe Kenya's President Daniel arap Moi and Gambia's President Yahya Jammeh who style themselves as African nationalists opposed to foreign interference...

Senegal's Abdoulaye Wade may be less keen; ATT outranks him diplomatically and has better connections both to Libya's Colonel Moammar el Gadaffi and to Washington...

Ravalomanana has sent an envoy to Tripoli to seek help from Libya's Colonel Moammar el Gadaffi who has recently mediated in conflicts in Chad and the Central African Republic...

Kabbah has also courted Taylor's old friends in Libya; his right-hand man former Foreign Minister Sama Banya has visited Tripoli and Kabbah himself met Colonel Moammar el Gadaffi in November...

Colonel Moammar el Gadaffi's 'Mr...

The Mugabe government will increasingly rely on friends such as Libya's Colonel Moammar el Gadaffi for economic and political survival...

In early March Libya's Colonel Moammar el Gadaffi separately hosted the Moroccan Prime Minister Abderrahmane el Youssoufi and the head of King Mohammed's office Mohamed Rachdi Chraibi who also met Tunisia's President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali on 11 March...

Oil diplomacy also benefits Colonel Moammar el Gadaffi whose tentative opening of the Libyan oil and gas industry has won him partial rehabilitation in Europe (although to the oil majors' frustration the US Congress insists on maintaining sanctions)...

In spite of the complications of the Lockerbie trial appeal Colonel Moammar el Gadaffi's careful response to the attacks of 11 September will help to speed the Jamahiriya's reintegration into the world economy...