LIBYA: Yesterday's joint appearance by Libyan leader Col Muammar Gadafy and the Commission president, Mr Romano Prodi, looked less like a press conference than a student production of an experimental opera, writes Denis Staunton in Brussels
Col Gadafy was magnificent in a camel shawl over a brown, silk costume, his luxuriant black hair and ageing rock-star features topped by a small, black fez.
Behind him stood four female bodyguards, dressed in blue camouflage fatigues and peaked caps, while anxious officials huddled in the wings like an under-rehearsed chorus awaiting their big number.
Mr Prodi told The Irish Times later that the decision to allow Col Gadafy to take his bodyguards along was a matter for the Belgian authorities, but that he had no objection "because they're so beautiful".
During an Arabic translation of Mr Prodi's opening remarks, the Libyan leader fiddled with his hat and flashed a few bashful smiles at photographers before giving them a thumbs-up.
Col Gadafy declared that his visit marked the start of a new era of peaceful relations across the Mediterranean, which had for too long been a bridge for armies and colonists.
"The Arabs occupied the south of Europe for 300 years and Spain for 800 but to no avail. They left nothing but ruins. The Romans invaded North Africa and they, too, left only ruins," he said.
Earlier, Col Gadafy had lunch with a group of commissioners, including Ireland's Mr David Byrne, feasting on quail with cumin, followed by lamb with vegetable tortilla and date ice-cream.
Mr Prodi met the Libyan at Brussels' military airport, the first time he has shown such a courtesy to a visiting head of government. When former South African president Mr Nelson Mandela visited, Mr Prodi did not even meet him at the door because Mr Mandela was no longer in office.
The Belgian government made sure Col Gadafy felt at home, erecting a large tent in the grounds of Val Duchesse, a Brussels villa. The Libyan leader was expected to sleep in the tent last night and to receive dignitaries there, including the EU foreign policy chief, Mr Javier Solana.
Mr Prodi said that he discussed human rights during his meeting with Col Gadafy, but that he avoided "preaching" about it.
For his part, the Libyan leader defended his establishment of training camps for guerrillas from Africa and beyond, claiming that he was unjustly accused of sponsoring terrorism. He said it was now time for Libya and the West to work together, not least for their mutual economic benefit - but warned that his embrace of peace might not be irreversible.
"I hope that we shall not be prompted or obliged by any evil to go back or to look backwards. We do hope that we shall not be obliged or forced one day to go back to those days when we bomb our cars or put explosive belts around our beds and around our women so that we will not be searched and not be harassed in our bedrooms and in our homes, as is taking place now in Iraq and in Palestine," he said.