Gaddhafi Threatens Again to Quit Arab League

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, March 04, 2003

Gaddhafi Threatens Again to Quit Arab League

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Libyan leader Muammar Gaddhafi on Monday threatened once again to quit the Arab League (AL) after his latest row with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Abdullah Ibn Abdul-Aziz at the just-concluded Arab summit.

Gaddhafi issued the threat in his meeting with Egyptian media in Cairo, where he is visiting after attending the AL summit held Saturday in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm AL-Sheikh.

It remained unclear if Libya will execute the threat, although Gaddhafi insisted that he was "serious" this time in making this decision.

The reclusive Libyan leader had issued such threats for several times in the past, but Libya has remained within the AL so far.

Traditional differences and acrimony overshadowed the Sharm al-Sheikh summit, where Arab leaders mainly discussed the latest crisis in the Persian Gulf where the United States and Britain are gearing up preparation for a war on Iraq to disarm Baghdad of weapons of mass destruction.

Shortly after the opening of the meeting, Gaddhafi publicly exchanged verbal insults with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, forcing the summit to recess for a short time to calm the tense atmosphere.

Gaddhafi charged Saudi Arabia for forging "an alliance with the devil" to defend it after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, in apparent reference to the United States.

Prince Abdullah immediately cut in, implying it is Libya that is "an agent of colonialism."

Earlier Monday, Libyan Parliament announced that Libya decided to recall its ambassador to Saudi Arabia to express its indignation at the Saudi crown prince's "aggression" towards Gaddhafi.

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