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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, AUGUST 12, 1983
PAGE 11
zation of African Unity. An OAU meeting scheduled last year in
the Libyan capital of Tripoli--which was to elect Khadafy chair
man--was canceled because of Arab disunity.
One consistent thread in Khadafy's actions has been his feud with
the United States. Two years ago, the Reagan administration ·ac
cused Khadafy of sending a "hit squad
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to stalk Reagan, and
Washington asked all Americans working in Libya to leave the
country.
U.S. and Libyan forces have had numerous encounters. The worst
came in 1981 when two U.S. Navy fighters downed two Libyan planes
that opened fire on the American aircraft over the Gulf of Sidra
--waters which are claimed by Libya but which the United States
said are international.
American spy planes were used last year when it was feared
Khadafy was planning to invade the Sudan, Chad's next-door
neighbor. After Khadafy's forces backed down, U.S. Secretary of
State George Shultz said that, "at least for the moment, Khadafy
is back in his box where he belongs."
Khadafy's provocative maneuvers and wildly shifting alliances
have frustrated his proclaimed goals 0£ Arab and African unity.
Once friendly Egypt is now an enemy, and the two nations fought a
brief war in 1977. Saudi Arabia and Libya broke and then resumed
relations, but not before the Saudi press branded Khadafy a "nit-
wit•
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• • •
The flamboyant Khadafy, trained at England's prestigious Sand
hurst military academy, hasn't confined his interest to Arab or
African nations. The United States has charged him with being
one of the principal financiers of international terrorism.
Khadafy said he opposed terrorism but supported what he called
"national liberation movements."
From his desert North African nation, Khadafy has poured millions
of dollars into the cause, supporting a Moslem separatist move
ment as far away as the Philippines. British diplomatic sources
said Britain once intercepted a shipment of Libyan arms for the
Irish Republican Army, which is fighting to drive the British
from Northern Ireland. Earlier this year, two members of the
American Indian Movement won Khadafy's backing for the movement's
treaty claims.
Government officials in Latin America allege that Libya is sup
plying weapons to Colombia's M-19 guerrillas and that Nicara
guans, Salvadoran rebels and leftists from other countries in the
region make frequent trips to Libya for military training. In
April, Brazil seized four Libyan planes loaded with arms believed
headed for leftist guerrillas in Centrai America.
Khadafy is also making government leaders uneasy by spending
money on four tiny nations in the eastern Caribbean. Operating
out of leftist-ruled Grenada, Khadafy has been accused of pro
moting unrest in St. Lucia, Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda by