Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is committed to introducing direct democracy in his North African nation, his son Saif Al Islam Gaddafi said in an interview yesterday. Speaking on BBC World Service radio, the younger Gaddafi said that in the wake of regional government elections three months ago, nation-wide polls — under the gaze of US and European observers — would be "the next step" and that they would be held "soon".
"When?"
"Umm, soon. Real soon. You'll see." |
"The Libyan people want to modernise their economy, they want to reform their system, they want to deepen direct democracy," he said. "We will do this through a collective action."
| Muammar obviously has no idea how to go about this" "We will institute individual liberty through collective action!" |
"In Libya, next time, everything should be democratic from A to Z. This is the desire of my father. This is the desire of the people." Asked whether his father — who rules Libya with no formal title -- would contest the presidency, he replied with a laugh: "I think he is going to be the leader, and not president."
| Same job, different title. |
The younger Gaddafi predicted an economic boom for Libya in the construction, oil and tourism sectors, saying: "Libya in the next few years will be the biggest workshop in the world." But he criticised European Union policy towards North Africa, saying Brussels was wrong to separate the nations along the south shore of the Mediterranean from the rest of Africa. He also said that if Europe wanted to stem the tide of illegal immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa via Libya, it should do more "to create jobs and fight unemployment" in the region. "It is not by sending us four wheel drive (vehicles), helicopters and night vision equipment" that the problem can be resolved, he said. "We have to bring opportunity from Europe ... and then we can prevent (migrants) from crossing the Sahara and crossing the Mediterranean towards Europe," he said.
| But first, they have to bring opportunity into Europe. |
|