Thursday 31 March 2011

Defection or diplomatic mission?

Has Moussa Koussa really defected? There are some indications that this may be a diplomatic mission -- negotiating an exit strategy for the Gaddafi regime -- rather than a defection.

1. Moussa is not accompanied by his family, who are apparently still in Libya. If he had been planning defection he would have had no difficulty in getting them out of the country before he flew to London.

2. He was accompanied to Tunisia (but not beyond) for his flight from Djerba to Farnborough by Abdel Ati al-Obeidi who remains a trusted counsellor of Gaddafi (and a trusted intermediary in the eyes of the UK and the USA).

3. If Moussa had defected, he would surely have negotiated immunity from prosecution for any personal involvement in Lockerbie (if Libya was implicated in any capacity, Moussa would inevitably have been personally involved). According to Foreign Secretary William Hague, no such immunity has been granted. This suggests that his visit is already covered by diplomatic immunity.

3 comments:

  1. So it is more the truth adequate Some officials in Scotland will have no joy from Moussa Koussa's informations ?
    by Edwin Bollier

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  2. Isn't Koussa chummy with the CIA? Seems like he wants to get rid of Gadaffi so Mahmoudi aka US oil)can take over. Then Libya is sunk!

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  3. Well, he doesn't appear to have come for "heart surgery", Al Mesmari's reason for flying from Tunis to Paris in October (and staying courtesy of French Intelligence), assisted apparently by Koussa.

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