Jordan Premier, delegates discuss with officials prospects of cooperation
Prime Minister Awn Khasawneh meets with Libyan National Transitional Council Chairman Mustafa Abdul Jalil (right) in Tripoli on Tuesday (Reuters photo by Anis Mili)
by Jordan Times | Feb 08,2012 | 23:45AMMAN —
Jordan on Tuesday offered to put all its capabilities and expertise at the disposal of the new Libya as the Arab country goes through a rebuilding stage.
A senior Libyan official said his country is interested in the offer, adding that Tripoli is particularly interested in Jordanian human resources.
The message was carried to the Libyan leadership by Prime Minister Awn Khasawneh and a wide-ranging delegation of officials and businessmen, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.
The premier held talks in Tripoli with National Transitional Council (NTC) Chairman Mustafa Abdul Jalil over ways to develop relations in the post-Qadhafi era.
For his part, Abdul Jalil expressed gratitude for His Majesty King Abdullah and Jordan’s political, humanitarian and logistic support to Libya, which will always be remembered by the Libyan people.
During the Libyan revolution against Qadhafi’s 42-year rule, Amman worked under an international coalition mandated by the UN to protect civilians.
I think Egyptian and Italian firms were involved in the first wave of buildings in Libya. Obviously those buildings were not very good. (Some personal experience and prejudice on my part may be involved here!) So Colonel Gaddafi, always the thinking man, had to order Allied bombings to get rid of them.
Too bad he had to die in the process. Was a good man this Gaddafi, very popular. They kept his corpse in the cold-storage, for people to come and pay their respect, for several days. They let him lie on the floor for he was a very simple man, liked to live in a tent.
Now that Gaddafi is gone, his successors are repeating his mistake of getting their Arab brothers, this time the Jordanians, to erect new buildings in Libya. I’d say: Aren’t they forgetting something? It was the Allied bombings that did the demolishing. Wouldn’t it be more appropriate to give building contracts to companies from those countries that were involved in the demolishing?
OK, do what you like. Get the Jordanians to build for you. But rest assured those buildings would surely be substandard; someone will have to order their demolition by bombing. Though next time around it may not be so easy to get them to do your dirty job, they might want some payment upfront.
Well, a Swiss firm built Col. Ghaddafi’s ‘bunker’ in Tripoli. The quality was fine, but …
Frankly, Mr. Tschannen, I do not know much about the bunkers. I am just an ordinary guy who happened to live in a flat in a building built, when they were on good terms with Gaddafi, by the Egyptians. While doing that I heard comments by folks who were in a situation similar to mine. That’s all. As I am not the kind of guy who would be interested in bunkers I did not care to know what happened to Gaddafi’s Tripoli bunker, though I am curious now.
Funny things these bunkers though. They are built with the fear/hope that someone would want to attack them and demolish them one day. They are usually built for pretentious people who like to impress people knowing full well that their pretention and high-handedness will earn them enmity. That’s why I chose to be very humble, and unpretentious. (Between you and me, being humble has not helped me much. Sometimes it is an uphill battle just getting by.)
Tripoli was a sort of necessary evil for me. To get to Sebha, I had to go to Tripoli and I had to teach for a year at Al-Faateh University, Tripoli as part of my exit plan. So I do not know much about Tripoli. Except, of course, that Tripoli has some very beautiful and yet highly neglected beaches and the seas are rough. When you have beaches and seaside to explore, who cares about bunkers?
Finally, Mr. Tschannen, if I sound as if I am trying to be too familiar with you do please forgive me. I often forget my lack of high status, whatever that means.
I also can confirm that the sea side is totally neglected. I only have knowledge of the beaches from Benghazi to the East. They could be a great asset, a huge potential.
In the town of Benghazi there is a sort of lagoon which I understand used to be clean and fit for fishes and swimmers. For the past few years however sewerage went into it untreated. Again, a huge potential once the Libyan funds are put to proper use.
May Allah guide the Libyans… (and protect them from selfish ‘helpers’ …)