Failed Summit

No quorum for Gaddafi

Libyan Strongman Muammar Gaddafi has been accused of many things, but lack of gall is not one of them. In August, he grandly convoked the 19th annual summit meeting of the Organization of African Unity in the Libyan capital of Tripoli. For Gaddafi it was to be a major event: according to a decision made at the 1981 summit in Nairobi, the Tripoli gathering would confirm his installation as O.A.U. chairman for one year. But Gaddafi alienated a number of moderate African states by helping to engineer the recognition of the Polisario guerrilla movement, which opposes Morocco's 1976 annexation of the Western Sahara, as the O.A.U.'s 51st member. As a result, only 21 heads of state showed up, and Gaddafi did not get the quorum of 34 necessary to hold a summit. Last week he tried and failed again to be host at the meeting.

In what appeared to be a conciliatory gesture, Gaddafi announced before the scheduled meeting that Polisario representatives had "voluntarily and temporar ily" withdrawn both from the rescheduled summit and from a preliminary gathering in Tripoli of African foreign ministers. In response, 44 national delegations turned up for the initial gathering. Then the posturing began. In a welcoming speech, Gaddafi exposed his territorial ambitions in northern Africa by proposing to abandon one of the O.A.U.'s most sacred principles: the inviolability of the national borders inherited from Africa's former colonial powers.

All the while, another dispute loomed, involving two rival delegations from Chad. One represented former President Goukouni Oueddei, who had seized power with Libyan military backing in November 1981. The other was led by current President Hissene Habre, who was ousted by Oueddei but regained power in a counter-coup five months ago. Gaddafi demanded that the opposition Oueddei group be seated as the official Chadian delegation.

As the wrangling dragged on, the prospects for the precious summit quorum melted away. The deadline for the summit was postponed by nearly two days. But finally only 30 delegations were willing to register for the meeting, and Gaddafi had to concede that there would be no conclave. As always, he tried to have the final word. "Contrary to what many think," Gaddafi declared, "the fact that the O.A.U. leaders have come to Tripoli twice to attend the [summit] is a victory for the Libyan people." The only loser was the O.A.U.

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