Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's first visit to France in 34 years has sharply divided opinion in the French press.
Commentators in the left-of-centre press accuse French President Nicolas Sarkozy of ignoring what they see as Libya's poor human rights record in order to secure contracts for French companies.
However, a writer in a business paper says that Mr Sarkozy's realpolitik will deliver tangible benefits for France, and several other commentators argue that Libya is being rightly rewarded for its recent efforts to co-operate with the international community.
Gaddafi, the jailer of the Bulgarian nurses who were tortured in prison for nine years, is now being rewarded with a long official visit to France. There is nothing forcing France to show such attentiveness and such indignity.
On the evening of his election Sarkozy announced that France would stand "alongside the oppressed" and was "back" in Europe. He is now giving Gaddafi the opportunity to lord it. He was also the sole EU leader to congratulate Putin on the result of the parliamentary elections in Russia. Mr Sarkozy is not keeping his word.
Ah, the soft sound of the fountain pen on the fine contract paper! That will drown out the sound of complaints by political prisoners in Tripoli and the hostile slogans of the odd demonstrator.
So five days of shame and trouble was the price to pay for a few lucrative contracts. In fact, this is not a very good deal.
Moral posturing has the drawback of not feeding anyone, other than great minds perhaps... What is important is that when Gaddafi returns to his own country, in a few days, he leaves behind him a reasonable number of billion-euro contracts and orders. As long as it is good for French jobs and companies: Nicolas Sarkozy is not asking for anything else.
France is not in the process of prostituting itself before the caricature of a tyrant. A policy has been defined that consists of encouraging countries that mend their ways to continue along the right path. In 2003, Gaddafi abandoned nuclear weapons and terrorism.
No doubt the Libyan leader's style is still atypical but the impression is that he has understood that his country's role in the international community makes it necessary to accept some rules of good conduct. This is a major development, which needs to be encouraged.
BBC Monitoring selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaux abroad.
No comments:
Post a Comment