Cablegate: Libya: Qadhafi Hopes in Italy's Leftists

P 070954Z NOV 97
FM AMEMBASSY ROME
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2366
INFO AMEMBASSY TUNIS
AMCONSUL NAPLES
AMEMBASSY NDJAMENA
AMCONSUL FLORENCE
AMEMBASSY NIAMEY
AMEMBASSY NAIROBI
AMCONSUL MILAN
AMEMBASSY CAIRO
AMEMBASSY ALGIERS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ROME 009630

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL XI XF LY IT
SUBJECT: LIBYA: QADHAFI HOPES IN ITALY'S LEFTISTS

REF: ROME 9519

SUMMARY
-------

1. THE ITALIAN PRESS CONTINUES TO REPORT ON
LIBYA, CITING QADHAFI AS SAYING OCTOBER 29 HE
BELIEVES ITALY'S LEFTIST GOVERNMENT SHOULD HAVE
NO PROBLEM WITH APPROVING INDEMNITY PAYMENTS TO
LIBYA AS COMPENSATION FOR ITALIAN COLONIAL
DAMAGES. THREE PROMINENT FIGURES, FORMERLY
MEMBERS OF THE THEN-ITALIAN COMMUNIST PARTY (PCI)
RESPONDED PUBLICLY AND POSITIVELY TO QADHAFI'S
REQUESTS: ACHILLE OCCHETTO, PRESIDENT OF THE
ITALIAN CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES' FOREIGN AFFAIRS
COMMITTEE, FORMER PCI LEADER, AND CURRENTLY A
MEMBER OF THE LEADING GOVERNING PARTY, THE
DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF THE LEFT (PDS); RINO SERRI,
MFA UNDER SECRETARY, FORMERLY OF THE PCI AND NOW
A MEMBER OF THE GOVERNING COALITION'S UNITARIAN
COMMUNIST PARTY; AND VALENTINO PARLATO, EDITOR
OF THE LEFTIST DAILY "IL MANIFESTO." HOWEVER,
SENATOR JAS GAWRONSKI OF THE CENTER-RIGHT'S FORZA
ITALIA SAID LIBYA CAN NORMALIZE ITS RELATIONS
WITH THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY "ONLY IF IT
COMPLIES WITH INTERNATIONAL LAW AND COOPERATES
POSITIVELY IN FINDING A SOLUTION ON LOCKERBIE."
A DELEGATION OF RELATIVES OF LIBYANS DEPORTED
DURING ITALY'S OCCUPATION VISITED ITALY AT THE
END OF OCTOBER AND SUBMITTED A LIST OF REQUESTS
TO THE GOI. UNIDENTIFIED ITALIAN MFA SOURCES
TOLD THE PRESS THAT THE SIGNING OF AN
ITALIAN-LIBYAN AGREEMENT "IS GETTING CLOSER."
END SUMMARY.

QADHAFI CALLS ON THE ITALIAN LEFT
---------------------------------

2. FOLLOWING LIBYA'S "NATIONAL DAY OF MOURNING"
IN COMMEMORATION OF THE MORE THAN THREE THOUSAND
LIBYANS QADHAFI CLAIMS WERE DEPORTED TO ITALY ON
OCTOBER 26, 1911, THE ITALIAN NEWS SERVICE ANSA
REPORTED THAT QADHAFI OCTOBER 29 SAID HE HOPED
THE NEW ITALIAN GOVERNMENT WOULD SETTLE THE
CONTROVERSY OVER COMPENSATION FOR DAMAGES
PROVOKED BY ITALY DURING ITALY'S OCCUPATION OF
LIBYA (1911-1943). SPECIFICALLY, QADHAFI SAID,
"INDEMNITY PAYMENTS SHOULD NOT BE A PROBLEM TO
THE COMMUNISTS AND THE LEFT NOW IN GOVERNMENT IN
ITALY. IT IS TIME TO TURN OVER A DARK PAGE,
START COOPERATING, AND FORGET THE UGLY PAST. IF
WE GET COMPENSATION, WE PROMISE WE WILL GIVE
ITALY TRUE FRIENDSHIP AND COOPERATION." HE ALSO
SAID HE BELIEVES ITALY "WILL SUPPORT LIBYA'S
POSITION ON LOCKERBIE, AS WILL OTHER EUROPEAN
COUNTRIES."

OCCHETTO SAYS ITALIAN COLONIALISM "A BLEMISH"
---------------------------------------------

3. QADHAFI SEEMED TO BE RESPONDING TO STATEMENTS
BY ACHILLE OCCHETTO, PRESIDENT OF THE ITALIAN
CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES' FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
(AND FORMER ITALIAN COMMUNIST PARTY LEADER).
INTERVIEWED ON ITALIAN NATIONAL RADIO THE
PREVIOUS DAY, OCCHETTO HAD STRESSED THE "TIES
BETWEEN THE TWO SHORES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN" AND
COMMENTED POSITIVELY ON THE GOI'S EFFORTS TO
NORMALIZE RELATIONS WITH LIBYA (REFTEL).
ACCORDING TO OCCHETTO, QADHAFI'S REPEATED
REQUESTS FOR INDEMNITY PAYMENTS APPEAR TO BE
"EXAGGERATED." HOWEVER, OCCHETTO SAID, ITALIAN
COLONIALISM WAS A "BLEMISH [ON ITALY'S PAST]. IT
WAS ITALY'S MISTAKE, AND ITALY MUST RECOGNIZE
IT." OCCHETTO DID NOT SEEM TO BE CONCERNED ABOUT
POSSIBLE U.S. DISCONTENT OVER ITALY'S EFFORTS.
HE SAID, "THE POLICY OF DIALOGUE WITH COUNTRIES
OVER WHICH THE U.S. HAS PLACED SOME SORT OF VETO
CAN BE MUCH MORE USEFUL TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF
FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY THAN THE POLICY OF
ISOLATION."

SERRI SAYS QADHAFI'S REQUESTS ARE "LEGITIMATE"
--------------------------------------------- -

4. QADHAFI'S REQUESTS RECEIVED POSITIVE, PUBLIC
RESPONSES FROM TWO OTHER AUTHORITATIVE ITALIAN
NEO-COMMUNISTS -- ONE OF WHOM, RINO SERRI, IS
CURRENTLY UNDER SECRETARY AT THE MFA. IN AN OPEN
LETTER IN THE ITALIAN COMMUNIST DAILY "IL
MANIFESTO" NOVEMBER 2, SERRI CHARACTERIZED
QADHAFI'S REQUEST FOR ITALY'S CONDEMNATION OF ITS
COLONIAL PERIOD AS "LEGITIMATE," ADDING THAT
ITALY SHOULD "REMOVE EVERY VESTIGE OF ITS
COLONIAL PAST IN LIBYA." ACCORDING TO SERRI,
"ITALY MUST CREATE THE CONDITIONS FOR LIBYA TO
COME OUT OF ITS ISOLATION" THROUGH THE
EURO-MEDITERRANEAN PARTNERSHIP, WHICH, HE SAID,
"CANNOT GROW WITHOUT LIBYA'S FULL
PARTICIPATION." HE NOTED THAT "MEDITERRANEAN
PEACE, SECURITY, AND PROGRESS" ARE INCREASINGLY
BECOMING ISSUES REQUIRING FULL COOPERATION
BETWEEN THE TWO SHORES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN, AND
UNDERSCORED LIBYA'S STEPS IN THIS DIRECTION,
INCLUDING ITS CALL FOR ARAB UNIFICATION AGAINST
ISLAMIC TERRORISM. SERRI SAID ITALIAN PM PRODI'S
CENTER-LEFT GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN WORKING SINCE
SUMMER 1996 TO "BEGIN A NEW AND POSITIVE PERIOD
IN LIBYAN-ITALIAN RELATIONS." ACCORDING TO
SERRI, "THIS IS THE WAY TO MAKE IT EASIER ONE DAY
TO OVERCOME" THE U.N. EMBARGO AGAINST LIBYA,
"WHICH ALL OF US SHOULD HOPE WILL NOT LAST TOO
MUCH LONGER." SERRI'S COMMENT WAS IN REPLY TO AN
OPEN LETTER IN THE SAME PAPER OCTOBER 31 BY
VALENTINO PARLATO, "MANIFESTO" EDITOR AND
POLITICAL COMMENTATOR (AND A NATIVE OF TRIPOLI),
WHO ENCOURAGED SERRI "TO REACH A PEACEFUL
SOLUTION WITH ITALY'S FORMER COLONY."

FORZA ITALIA SAYS REMEMBER LOCKERBIE
------------------------------------

5. QADHAFI'S REQUESTS SPARKED A DIAMETRICALLY
OPPOSITE REACTION FROM JAS GAWRONSKI,
CENTER-RIGHT FORZA ITALIA'S GROUP LEADER AT THE
SENATE FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE. ACCORDING TO
GAWRONSKI, LIBYA CAN NORMALIZE ITS RELATIONS WITH
THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY "ONLY IF IT COMPLIES
WITH INTERNATIONAL LAW AND COOPERATES POSITIVELY
IN FINDING A SOLUTION ON LOCKERBIE." IF THE GOI
WERE TO IGNORE THE ABOVE, GAWRONSKI SAID, IT
WOULD "OPEN A VERY DIFFICULT PERIOD IN ITALY'S
TRADITIONAL RELATIONS OF FRIENDSHIP WITH THE U.S.
AND WITH ALL THE COUNTRIES THAT HAVE ALWAYS
STRUGGLED AGAINST INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM AND ITS
RAMIFICATIONS."

LIBYAN DELEGATION IN ITALY
--------------------------

6. THE PRESS OCTOBER 28-29 ALSO REPORTED THE
LATE-OCTOBER YEARLY VISIT TO ITALY BY A
DELEGATION OF RELATIVES OF THOSE LIBYANS WHO WERE
ALLEGEDLY DEPORTED HERE, AND THEIR YEARLY
REQUESTS TO THE GOI FOR:

-- MAPS INDICATING THE PLACEMENT OF
ANTI-PERSONNEL LAND MINES;

-- TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TO REMOVE THE LAND MINES;

-- MEDICAL ASSISTANCE TO THOSE WHO WERE INJURED
OR CRIPPLED BY LAND MINE EXPLOSIONS; AND

-- COMPENSATION FOR DAMAGES.

GOI READYING ITALY-LIBYA AGREEMENT
----------------------------------

7. ACCORDING TO THE PROVOCATIVE, CLASSICAL
LIBERAL DAILY "IL FOGLIO" OCTOBER 31 AND NOVEMBER
6, UNIDENTIFIED ITALIAN MFA SOURCES SAID THAT THE
SIGNING OF AN ITALIAN-LIBYAN BILATERAL AGREEMENT
(THAT WILL ALSO SETTLE PENDING COLONIAL ISSUES)
"IS GETTING CLOSER." ACCORDING TO "IL FOGLIO,"
THE AGREEMENT WOULD OPEN THE WAY FOR
"CONSIDERABLE OPPORTUNITIES IN THE ENERGY AND
INFRASTRUCTURE SECTORS, BUT WOULD MOST CERTAINLY
PROVOKE U.S. RESENTMENT." THIS NOTWITHSTANDING,
"IL FOGLIO" NOTED THAT UNIDENTIFIED GOI SOURCES
INDICATED THAT ITALY "WANTS TO MOVE THE SAME WAY
AS FRANCE DID IN IRAN WITH ITS 'TOTAL'
MAXI-CONTRACT."

CUNNINGHAM

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