BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

03/11/2008

Libya, Belarus Unite Against "Unipolar World"

MINSK, Belarus (AFP)--Libyan leader Moamer Gadhafi on Monday called on Belarus' isolated regime to join "progressive forces" to create a multipolar world governed by the rule of law.

Gadhafi made the call during talks in Minsk with authoritarian Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, part of his first tour of the former Soviet Union since the Cold War.

"Balance in the world has been destroyed and the world has become unipolar," Gadhafi said during talks with Lukashenko, in an apparent reference to the rise of the U.S. after the Soviet Union collapsed. "The law of force has begun to work in place of the force of law."

"Progressive forces must unite together to correct the mistakes, including those made by the United Nations," Gadhafi said in comments broadcast on Belarussian television.

A former pariah state, Libya has moved into the international fold in recent years by renouncing weapons of mass destruction and taking responsibility for a 1988 airliner bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland that killed 270 people.

Lukashenko, whose regime has been described by Washington as Europe's last dictatorship, maintained ties with the North African country when it was still regarded as an international outcast.

"Like you we consider that the world should be multipolar," Lukashenko said, quoted by his press service. "Any system must be based on several points to remain balanced. We have all seen what a unipolar world leads to."

Gadhafi thanked Lukashenko for help provided when his country was suffering under international sanctions.

"Libya went through a difficult period of international sanctions... and it was Belarus that extended a hand of friendship," Gadhafi said, quoted by Interfax news agency.

In recent years the U.S. and European Union have both imposed sanctions against Lukashenko's regime.

"We know how difficult it is to survive sanctions that have been imposed illegally," Lukashenko said, quoted by RIA Novosti news agency.

After Monday's talks the two leaders signed a series of agreements on migration, crime, transport and culture, Lukashenko's office said. It said Lukashenko accepted an invitation to travel to Libya.

Source:

http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxcontent/NewsStory.aspx?cpath=20081103\ACQDJON200811031009DOWJONESDJONLINE000319.htm&&mypage=newsheadlines&title=Libya,%20Belarus%20Unite%20Against

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