Word: libyans
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...most critical to that effort was not among those sitting around the gleaming conference table. Instead, Libyan president Moammar Gaddafi was just across the Seine, touring the Louvre Museum with a coterie of female bodyguards...
Despite his return to the international fold following his 2003 repudiation of state terrorism and of efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction, Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi hasn't been the kind of statesman Western leaders have wanted to honor in their capitals - until now. Despite his continued disdain for democracy and notoriously poor record on human rights, Gaddafi is being hosted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy for a lavish five-day stay featuring not one but two meetings with Sarkozy. Supporters of the trip argue it offers Gaddafi evidence of the diplomatic respect awaiting him should he match...
...country isn't a doormat upon which a leader, whether terrorist or not, can come to wipe off the blood of his crimes," fumed Rama Yade, the secretary of state for foreign affairs and human rights in Sarkozy's own government, to the daily Le Parisien. Yade noted the Libyan regime's maintenance of police state to repress suspected political opposition left her decidedly "not happy about this visit" - one that begins, she pointed out "on International Human Rights Day". She wasn't the only one to protest Sarkozy's decision to host Gaddafi's first trip to France...
...between London and Tripoli, the "very strong cooperation on counter-terrorism and defense" - and, not incidentally, greater business opportunities for British companies seeking work on the largest oil reserves in Africa, which Libya houses. Similar trips by German and American officials to discuss strategic and business cooperation with the Libyan regime have been regular occurrences over the past three years...
...Paris visit marks the first time a Western head of state has hosted Gaddafi as an honored guest of his nation - a particularly big p.r. coup for the Libyan, given Sarkozy's repeated vows to make human rights central in defining French foreign policy. Opposition politicians and human rights groups like Amnesty International want to hold Sarkozy to that promise by insisting Gaddafi's better diplomatic behavior be accompanied by improved treatment of his own people before he's shown such deferential treatment. Critics also contend Gaddafi isn't the only suspect foreign leader Sarkozy has offered such friendly approbation...