Gaddafi offered to give up WMDs in return for eased US pressure on human rights issues, UK documents reveal

Muammar Gaddafi’s regime offered to dismantle programmes of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) to deter pressure over Libya’s human rights violations, newly released British documents reveal.

The UK Cabinet Office documents, released by the British National Archives, also indicate that about 20 years ago, the UK government sought to convince the US that maintaining efforts for normalisation with Gaddafi’s regime could encourage “other miscreants” in the Middle East to abandon their suspected WMD programmes.

In late 2003, the late Libyan leader stunned the world by renouncing his regime’s weapons of WMD programmes. In addition he accepted international inspectors to visit Libya to verify that he would fulfill his commitments. Gaddafi’s decision has been promoted by the Western leaders as a model to follow.

This came about nine months after the US-led coalition invaded Iraq and ousted President Saddam Hussain’s regime.

After the invasion, then British Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George W Bush intensified their efforts they had started after 9/11 to get Gaddafi out of international isolation.

On 25 March 2004, Blair became the first British leader to visit Libya since Gaddafi came to power in 1969. After he met with the Libyan leader, Blair said that “remarkable progress” had been made. The documents pointed out that the British leader briefed Bush on the visit, which came after the Libyan regime accepted responsibility for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing and agreed to compensate the families of its victims.

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A few weeks later, the Bush Administration pressured Gaddafi to improve its human rights record after the Libyan security services detained Fathi Al-Jahmi, a human right activist and an outspoken critic of the regime. Human rights groups and some British parliamentarians raised concerns and made representations to the government about the Al-Jahmi case after the disappearance of his family in Libya.

Al-Jahmi – whose brother is a US citizen – was released in late March 2004 at the request of a visiting US congressman. But he was subsequently detained once again after openly and harshly criticising the regime. US officials continued to demand his release. Al-Jahmi was released and in May 2009, he died in a hospital in Amman, Jordan.

The British prime minister’s team of advisers were preparing for his summit with Bush on 14 April in the White House. In the steering brief for the meeting, the team expected Libya to be raised as a part of an US-UK plan for reform in the Arab World.

On 1 April, Gaddafi called Blair to discuss the human rights issue and the American pressure. The Libyan leader “complained about the US interference in Libyan internal affairs”. He also asked for “UK assistance”, the documents show.

Blair’s advisers assessed that the Al-Jahmi case “threatens to undermine US good will towards Libya”. They also warned the prime minister that Libyans “threatened to halt progress on dismantling their WMD over the case.” They recommended Blair “reiterate the importance of maintaining the momentum in normalizing relations with Libya in parallel with progress on WMD.” The steering brief explained the significance of “preventing backsliding from the Libyans”, emphasising the broader regional impact of such a step. The normalisation of relation between Libya and the West will “show other regional miscreants the benefits of co-operating with international non-proliferation bodies,” the British advisers explained.

Blair was also advised to stress the need for the US and UK to continue working closely to “prevent Libyans mishandling of related issues, eg human rights, from derailing progress.”

With regard to the political reforms, the British intended to explain to the Americans that they acknowledged that Libya “has much to do on democratization and human rights”. However, they believed that this would be “a long term process” that needed to be “guided sensitively”.

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Meanwhile, the British prime minister’s advisers were keen to reassure the US Administration that the direct line, established with Gaddafi after Blair’s historical visit, would be useful for “delivering tough messages if required on WMD”.

This approach will also “ensure Libyan tendency to over-react to criticism (on human rights issues), does not derail the disarmament process,” they added.

The British pressure on the US aimed to “maintain the momentum in developing bilateral ties.”

After Bush-Blair’s summit in April 2004, the UK government expanded the ministerial contacts to strengthen bilateral cooperation across the board with the Gaddafi regime.

Other Cabinet Office documents revealed that Blair used his growing relationship with Gaddafi to lobby for arms deals involving British defence contractor BAE Systems.

In late April 2004, the Blair Government informed the House of Commons of its “concerns” about the human rights situation in Libya. In response to parliamentary questions, the government confirmed that the minister for Middle East affairs had engaged in “substantive talks on human rights with the Libyan Foreign Minister” during a visit to Tripoli.

Blair has faced repeated criticism from human rights activists in the UK and the Middle East, particularly after the Arab popular uprisings of 2011, for his consultancy work with authoritarian regimes in the Arab World.

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