<The row erupted after Qadhafi criticised Saudi Arabia for hosting US forces. Qadhafi charged that Saudi Arabia's King Fahd had been ready to "strike an alliance with the devil" to defend the kingdom after Iraq's 1990 invasion of neighbouring Kuwait.
Crown Prince Abdullah then cut in and pointing a finger at Qadhafi said: "... the kingdom of Saudi Arabia is not an agent of imperialism like you and others are. Who brought you to power? ... You are a liar and your grave awaits you." Abdullah asked Qadhafi, pointing a finger at him angrily: "Don't speak or interfere in things, which you have no luck or chance in.">
AFP..SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt: An Arab summit on the Iraq crisis was marred by a televised row between Libyan leader Moamar Qadhafi and Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz, which ended in a brief walk-out by the Saudi delegation.
The two Arab leaders exchanged diatribes in the full glare of the cameras before Egyptian state television pulled the plug on its live feed from the conference hall in this Red Sea resort. The row erupted after Qadhafi criticised Saudi Arabia for hosting US forces. Qadhafi charged that Saudi Arabia's King Fahd had been ready to "strike an alliance with the devil" to defend the kingdom after Iraq's 1990 invasion of neighbouring Kuwait.
Crown Prince Abdullah then cut in and pointing a finger at Qadhafi said: "... the kingdom of Saudi Arabia is not an agent of imperialism like you and others are. Who brought you to power? ... You are a liar and your grave awaits you." Abdullah asked Qadhafi, pointing a finger at him angrily: "Don't speak or interfere in things, which you have no luck or chance in."
At that point the live coverage ended but delegates said the Libyan leader refused to drop his accusations, railing against the base facilities granted by Saudi Arabia to the United States.
Crown Prince Abdullah then walked out of the conference room, forcing the adjournment of the summit for more than half an hour, while other participants calmed down the Saudi and Libyan delegations. The presidents of Egypt, Syria and Lebanon followed Prince Abdullah and convinced him to return to the meeting, sources at the meeting told Reuters. When the summit eventually resumed, it did so without the live television feed which had spotlighted the huge divisions within the Arab world over the US military build-up in the Gulf. The TV coverage only resumed with the closing speech of Arab League Secretary-General Amr Mussa. |
