This is from the Guardian [London based]. I hope someone finds it useful.
Hamjatta

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Gadafy set to come in from the cold

Lockerbie: special report
The European Commission: special report

Ian Black in Brussels
Saturday April 1, 2000

Muammar Gadafy will achieve a historic breakthrough in Libya's relations with
the west when he meets European Union leaders at the first EU-Africa summit
in Cairo on Monday.

Working hard to shed his pariah status, Colonel Gadafy appears to be close to
signing a declaration recognising Israel and accepting respect for democracy
and human rights, diplomats said last night.

Having finally handed over the two Lockerbie bombing suspects for trial, his
subscribing to the principles of the 27-member Euro-Mediterranean forum - the
so-called Barcelona process - is now all that stands between him and
international respectability.

Romano Prodi, the European Commission president, provoked a furious row in
January when he agreed to meet the maverick Libyan leader, but was then
forced into an embarrassing climbdown.

No meeting between the two is scheduled, although Col Gadafy arrived in Egypt
yesterday, so it would be extraordinary if an encounter did not take place
during the two-day event.

"Something is moving on the Libyan side," Mr Prodi's spokesman said. "There
are encouraging signs of the Libyan government adopting a more open attitude
to the Euro-Med dialogue."

Europeans feel emboldened to bring Col Gadafy in from the cold because he has
turned a new leaf on terrorism, and because of the importance of Libya's oil
industry, but also because the US is now less hostile: this week it is
sending its first official delegation to Tripoli for 20 years.

The Cairo summit is designed to show that the EU has not forgotten Africa -
ravaged by conflict and threatened by Aids, famine and marginalisation -
after a decade of post-cold-war focus on eastern and central Europe.

It is the brainchild of Portugal, current holder of the union's rotating
presidency, which fought the continent's most bitter colonial wars in
Guinea-Bissau, Angola and Mozambique but now has the best relations with its
former colonies.

Only a month ago the event seemed destined for disaster or oblivion, because
Morocco refused point blank to attend if the Western Saharans were there.

The EU is still Africa's biggest single source of emergency assistance and
development aid through a variety of programmes, including the aid-and-trade
pact concluded in February with 71 former colonies.

African critics point out, however, that too much money has disappeared into
the pockets of corrupt government officials, and accuse the European
Commission of failing to keep tabs on its largesse.

Social, economic and development issues are high on the Cairo agenda, as are
debt relief and the fight against Aids, though the EU side has made it clear
that it does not want a pledging conference.

Oxfam is urging EU governments to agree a Compact for Africa, to mobilise
$1.6bn a year, in advance of the forthcoming World Education Forum in
Senegal.

Suspicions remain strong. Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the Algerian president,
warned that Africans would benefit only if they prevented Europeans from
"trying to sell more and more of their goods".

Only last month the EU and South Africa settled an acrimonious dispute that
hinged largely on trivial questions about product names like grappa and ouzo,
displaying a rich and self-satisfied trading bloc at its most selfish.

Britain, represented in Cairo by Robin Cook, the foreign secretary, wants a
sharp focus on conflict prevention - vital in a continent which still
accounts for more than half the world's wars, draining resources from
development projects and pouring them into refugee camps.

Oxfam points to a sharp contrast between the EU's commitment to stopping
violence in Kosovo and East Timor and the largely forgotten wars of Angola,
Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The EU puts a far greater emphasis on fostering relations with the
continent's giants, such as South Africa, Nigeria and the Maghreb countries.















hkanteh

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