'Generous' Kadhafi Welcome

GAO, KOMPAS.com - Moamer Kadhafi’s circle of friends on the international scene is fast shrinking but in the Malian town of Gao, residents say they would be happy to welcome the fugitive Libyan leader.

“Let Kadhafi come here. We will offer him bed and board,” said a chemist in Gao, the impoverished Sahelian country’s main eastern hub.

A school headmaster looked slightly more nervous when asked if he would open his home to Kadhafi but argued Mali had long benefited from the maverick leader’s largesse and could not leave him out in the cold.

“I agree to welcome Kadhafi. We are not ungrateful people. He opened his wallet to us Africans. Today he is experiencing difficult times, we should not forsake him,” he said.

Mali’s relations with Kadhafi’s regime were manifold. The oil-rich regime welcomed thousands of Tuareg rebels from Mali and neighbouring countries in the 70s, many of whom are now returning with expensive cars and weapons.

But more recently, Kadhafi also showered African leaders with billions of dollars and got traditional leaders all over the continent to call him the “King of Kings”.

While cases of mistreatment of sub-Saharan immigrants in Libya spurred some controversy in Mali and elsewhere, many simply remember the man who sprinkled dollar bills on the crowd when he toured the region to launch his drive for the “United States of Africa” a decade ago.

Mali is one of the countries that benefited the most from Kadhafi’s generosity. Libyan investments financed a gleaming government office complex which bears Kadhafi’s name and is on the brink of completion.

Libya also has significant stakes in the hotel and banking industries. “I never received a penny from Kadhafi but I like him. There is a man who knows how to share. Just look at what he’s done for countries like Mali,” said Nouhoun Kone, a Gao airport employee.

“How many other Arab leaders offered any help to black Africa?” he said.