As Libya pushes to widen its global role, it discovers that it must reconcile the seemingly irreconcilable demands of Western norms and values, writes Gamal Nkrumah Determined to preserve a time-worn droit de seigneur, European nations have to contend with an old-fashioned Libyan leader who is in no mood to bargain or compromise, especially when it comes to the well-being and dignity of his son. It is hard to say whether the skewed pattern of collision with Western nations between Libya and the West will yield positive results. The Libyan authorities wish to be treated seriously, but it is obvious that they are under no obligations to curry favour with Western nations, and in particular second and third-rate powers. Yet the reactions of Western nations indicate that he will not have it all his own way. Indeed, Western attitudes suggest that they are under no illusions that Western-style democracy is at work in Libya. The Libyan leader presides over his country's minimal progress in a democratic direction with commendable panache. After all, no figure casts such a long shadow over modern Libya as , with his colourful extended family. In exchange for security guarantees including handing over all information about supposed terrorist operations to Western intelligence, Libya has gained recognition and a vested interest in the stability of the Mediterranean Basin. But full acceptance into the international community may have to await the ushering in of true democratic reform in the oil-rich North African country. The reason for this was made patently clear this week when Libya claimed of "poor treatment of Libyan businessmen and diplomats" by the Swiss authorities, in particular, the controversial fifth son of the Libyan leader , Hannibal Other European countries have also found it exceedingly difficult to deal with Hannibal. He threatened French police with a gun at the InterContinental hotel, Paris, last year. Needless to say, Hannibal was protected by his diplomatic status. In 2005, a French court sentenced Hannibal to a four-month suspended sentence. He has been charged with drunk driving and violence in several European countries including in France. In September 2004, he was arrested for speeding through red lights on the Champs Elysees. Matters came to a head earlier this year on 15 July when Hannibal and his wife Aline were detained in Geneva for beating two employees of the five-star Hotel President Wilson, Geneva, a Tunisian female and a Moroccan male, with a belt and coat hanger. The hotel employees complained bitterly of verbal and physical abuse, a charge denied by Hannibal. In response, the Libyan authorities promptly withdrew Libyan assets estimated to be around $7 billion from Swiss banks. It also promptly cut off the supplies of crude oil it provides the Swiss -- some 20 per cent of Switzerland's petroleum needs, and halted all flights to the tiny Alpine nation. This is not the first time that Libya has withdrawn its assets from Swiss banks or suspended oil supplies to Switzerland this year. On 29 July Libya resumed oil deliveries to Switzerland after halting them on 24 July. The Swiss reaction to this tedious and unpredictable behaviour was temperate and dispassionate. "The current situation concerning the oil markets is not tense. Prices show that there is sufficient oil on the market. So there is no danger for Switzerland," Swiss President Pascal Couchepin explained. Addressing a German satellite television channel, the Swiss president expressed hope that the spat with Tripoli would be over soon. The Swiss authorities advised its citizens to refrain from visiting Libya either for tourism or business. Tripoli, however, appears bent on escalating the crisis. It is determined to make an example of the Swiss in order to deter other European nations from taking Tripoli lightly. It is against this backdrop that the Libyan company based in Geneva Tamoil, which supplies 10 per cent of Swiss petroleum needs, was instructed by Tripoli to halt economic activities temporarily in Switzerland. Libya, like other oil-producing Arab states, has been propping up Western oil consumers by selling their precious resources for dollars and euros and reinvesting them in Western economies. Tamoil spokespersons explained that its decision in this case was political, rather than an economic. The moral of the story is that it is politics, at least as much as economics, that continues to determine the nature of the working relationship between Libya and the West, contrary to the view of such supposed upholders of democratic ideals as Switzerland. This poses a dilemma for the West. The impression one gets now is that Western nations are salivating to cement ties with the oil-rich Eldorado to the south -- a country well worth courting. However, Gaddafi's close family members and hangers-on are just as obviously above the law, not only in Libya but apparently on the soil of friendly nations as well. How should Libya's Western trading partners react to this? Maybe they have no choice if they want to keep burning Libya's hydrocarbons in their vain attempt to democratise the desert nomads.
