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Germany denies training Libyan security forces | |||
2008-04-08 | |||
BERLIN - Germany on Monday denied reports that its federal police and soldiers had covertly trained Libyan security forces, except in one case where a sergeant has been suspended and placed under investigation. “As far as we know, no federal government official and no soldier in active service took part in the planning or implementation of training programmes in Libya,” government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said.
Wilhelm conceded that a private Germany security firm may have trained members of an elite corps assigned to Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi. But he stressed that Berlin has never authorised any initiative to provide security training to Libyans, denying press reports implicating former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in the scandal.
Bild am Sonntag said Schroeder and Kadhafi discussed the matter first during a secret meeting in Cairo in 2003 and again at an official summit the following year. The paper said training Libyan forces was a way to repay Tripoli for its help in securing the release of three Germans who were among 21 western tourists kidnapped by extremists on the Philippine island of Jolo in 2000. Schroeder, the foreign ministry and the foreign intelligence service, the BND, have denied the reports. The former chancellor, who was in from office 1998 to 2005, threatened to sue newspapers for printing “lies.” Schroeder denied meeting with Kadhafi in secret or speaking to him about training Libyan forces, saying he “certainly has no recollection” of giving such undertakings. The regional interior ministry in North Rhine-Westphalia has said that the eight suspected SEK members had been relieved of their duties. It said a master sergeant in the German army and a former SEK officer, who was suspected of organising the training of Libyan forces between 2005 and 2007, were also under investigation. The sergeant was suspended in April 2006 when it became known that he was trying to recruit fellow soldiers to train Libyans, a spokesman for the defence ministry said. Press reports have said some 30 Germans were involved and that they were paid up to 15,000 euros (23,500 dollars). According to Der Spiegel magazine, the German private security company BDB Protection Gmbh earned 1.6 million euros training Libyan forces. The left-leaning daily Die Tageszeitung said Monday the affair proved that Germany had two foreign policies, one official and one covert. “This shows again that in Germany it remains possible to have a private, parallel foreign policy that escapes any form of official control.” | |||
Posted by:Steve White |
#1 I thought Americans trained Libyan security forces back in the 70s or something like that. That's how Ghadaffi survived as long as he did when Reagan came after him. |
Posted by: gorb 2008-04-08 01:22 |