Why Ghadaffi stayed away from Summit

Among the 104 ‘‘full participants’’ assembled at the Asian-African Summit here, there was one conspicuous absentee &#151...

Among the 104 ‘‘full participants’’ assembled at the Asian-African Summit here, there was one conspicuous absentee — Muammar Ghadaffi.

The flambuoyant leader of Libya had reportedly confirmed his decision to attend the meet. Then, he apparently discovered that he was going to be in the capital of world’s largest Muslim country and suggested he must lead the prayers at the Grand Mosque on that day.

That was a bit of a problem for the hosts. There was a large number of Muslim heads of governments attending the conference and how could they single out one for Friday honours? They worked out a response in a style that was very diplomatic indeed. A senior government leader in Jakarta conveyed the message that the Indonesian people would be honoured to hear the Libyan leader giving sermon at the Istiqlal Mosque. But, the message said, the moment was perhaps not appropriate as other Muslim leaders would also be at the mosque at the same time to pray. Upon getting this message, Ghadaffi chose to stay away.

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