Arab Ministers meet to defuse bitter Libya-Tunisia dispute
NZPA-Reuter Tunis The Arab League will begin talks today in a bid to defuse a bitter row between Libya and Tunisia. The dispute flared after a guerrilla attack on the Tunisian phosphate mining town of Gafsa last month in which 41 people died and more than 100 were injured. Tunisia accused the Libyans of masterminding the raid. Libya denied the charge and joined Tunisia in calling for an extraordinary meeting of the 21-member league. Arab Ministers, who gathered in the Tunisian capital
yesterday, held private consultations yesterday in an effort to soothe the friction between the North African neighbours. The extraordinary meeting, already put back from midFebruary, was due to open earlier this week, but was delayed because of the late arrival of some delegations, officials said. Libya wants the Arap meeting to condemn what it described as the French invasion of Tunisia. France provided logistical support to the Tunisian Army after the Gafsa attack. The Libyan leader, Colonel
Muammar Gadaffi, has effectively replaced Algeria as France’s main Arab challenger in sub-Saharan Africa. Earlier this month his ruling People’s Congress called for war against France if it refused to withdraw its “invasion force” from Tunisia. Nevertheless, officials said that Arab States wanted to cool the Tunisian-Libyan row and the two adversaries were also anxious that relations should not deteriorate further. Relations between Tunis and Tripoli have been uneasy since Tunisia renounced a
1974 agreement to merge the , two countries after just 72 hours. Tunisia expelled the Libyan ambassador after the Gafsa raid. • ■ . Colonel Gadaffii’s row with Paris and Tunis comes after equally fierce clashes with 7 the Palestine Liberation Or- : ganisation and the United States before Christmas. On December 2 the United States Embassy in Tripoli , was attacked and in th? same month the Libyan ' leader expelled the P.L.Q representative.
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Press, 28 February 1980, Page 8
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308Arab Ministers meet to defuse bitter Libya-Tunisia dispute Press, 28 February 1980, Page 8
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