Mussa Kussa
Encyclopedia
Moussa Muhammad Koussa is a Libya
n political figure and diplomat, who served in the Libyan government as Minister of Foreign Affairs
from March 2009, into the 2011 Libyan civil war
, when he resigned his position from the Gaddafi regime on 30 March 2011.
Koussa previously headed the Libyan intelligence agency
from 1994 to 2009, and was considered one of the country's most powerful figures. He arrived in the United Kingdom
on 30 March 2011. Later the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office
released an official statement saying that Koussa no longer wished to represent the Libyan government and intended to resign.. He is now believed to be in Qatar
. He was a member of Gaddafi's inner circle.
in East Lansing
, Michigan
, earning a bachelor's in sociology
in 1978.
in 1980. He was expelled from the United Kingdom in 1980, after stating in an interview with The Times
newspaper that his government intended to eliminate two political opponents of the Libyan government, who were living in the UK.
Later he served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1992 to 1994 and as the head of the Libyan intelligence agency
from 1994 to 2009. He was a key figure in the normalization of relations between Libya and many NATO nations, including the United States and the United Kingdom. Koussa was key in securing the release of Pan Am Flight 103
bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi. In October 2008, he met both British and Scottish government officials, listed as an interpreter. In a second visit in January 2009, he was listed as Minister of Security.
, in a ministerial reshuffle announced by the Libyan parliament.
In April 2009, he presided over the 28th council meeting of the Arab Maghreb Union
(comprising Algeria
, Libya, Morocco
, Mauritania
and Tunisia
) in the Libyan capital Tripoli
.
In an interview published by Asharq Al-Awsat on 10 November 2009, Koussa criticized some aspects of Chinese
investment in Africa. Koussa said, "I do not consider what I said to be a campaign against the Chinese; on the contrary we have a positive opinion of the Chinese", but despite the fact that "China has aided us and the liberation movements [in Africa]", it was unacceptable for the Chinese to bring "thousands of Chinese workers to Africa" when Africans themselves needed jobs, and he spoke of "a Chinese invasion of the African continent" that he said "brings to mind the effects that colonialism had on the African continent". He called on China to rather "train the African workforce" instead. Koussa also criticized China's unwillingness to deal with the African Union
and its preference for dealing with individual African states, which he said was suggestive of a divide and rule
policy. Furthermore, he stressed the importance of political cooperation in addition to economic cooperation, saying that the former was lacking in China's relationship with Africa. He said that China only dealt in business, and never engaged in political support, in order to please all sides in a dispute. He suggested that China engage the Arab/African/Islamic world with political support, rather than just keeping relations "limited to building roads and schools".
Koussa was described as "hands shaking" as he announced a ceasefire
weeks into the 2011 civil war, after the UN Security Council
had opened the way to a no-fly zone. Western "officials indicated that they were prepared to move quickly if a decision was made to take military action. France and the UK and then the United States responded [to the ceasefire announcement] with almost identically worded skepticism ...." Attacks by government troops on Benghazi
were also being reported – and denied – at the time, some hours after the announced ceasefire.
On 29 March 2011, Koussa wrote to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
, nominating the former foreign minister of Nicaragua
’s socialist Sandinista government and one-time president of the United Nations General Assembly, Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, as Libya’s new ambassador to the UN. The letter stated that Brockmann was nominated, as Ali Treki, also a former General Assembly president who was their first choice, was denied a visa to enter the United States under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973
.
, Tunisia
, on 28 March 2011, via the Ras Ajdir border crossing, a Tunisian Government spokesman stated via Tunis Afrique Presse
that Koussa had arrived on a "private visit." On 30 March 2011, he departed from Djerba
on a Swiss-registered
private jet, arriving at Farnborough Airfield
, England, according to Libyan sources on a diplomatic mission. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office
later released an official press statement, stating that Koussa no longer wished to represent the Libyan government and intended to resign, unhappy with Libyan Army
attacks on civilians.
Scottish prosecutors are seeking to interview Koussa about the Lockerbie bombing
, which killed 270 people. At the time, Koussa was a leading member of the Libyan Bureau for External Security (the Mathaba) which was suspected to be responsible.
Moussa Koussa's role in the torture and deaths of Libyan people was alleged by the BBC television Panorama programme (broadcast on 24/10/2011) and denied by him through his lawyer. Koussa left the United Kingdom and moved to Qatar
following a European Union decision to lift sanctions against him, meaning he no longer faces travel restrictions or an asset freeze.
|-
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
n political figure and diplomat, who served in the Libyan government as Minister of Foreign Affairs
Foreign minister
A Minister of Foreign Affairs, or foreign minister, is a cabinet minister who helps form the foreign policy of a sovereign state. The foreign minister is often regarded as the most senior ministerial position below that of the head of government . It is often granted to the deputy prime minister in...
from March 2009, into the 2011 Libyan civil war
2011 Libyan civil war
The 2011 Libyan civil war was an armed conflict in the North African state of Libya, fought between forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and those seeking to oust his government. The war was preceded by protests in Benghazi beginning on 15 February 2011, which led to clashes with security...
, when he resigned his position from the Gaddafi regime on 30 March 2011.
Koussa previously headed the Libyan intelligence agency
Jamahiriya el-Mukhabarat
Mukhabarat el-Jamahiriya is the national intelligence service of Libya. During the 2011 Libyan civil war, agency director Abuzed Omar Dorda was captured by anti-Gaddafi forces, and many of the agency's functions were disrupted or usurped as a result of the conflict.-Operations:Mukhabarat...
from 1994 to 2009, and was considered one of the country's most powerful figures. He arrived in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
on 30 March 2011. Later the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO is a British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas, created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.The head of the FCO is the...
released an official statement saying that Koussa no longer wished to represent the Libyan government and intended to resign.. He is now believed to be in Qatar
Qatar
Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...
. He was a member of Gaddafi's inner circle.
Education
He attended Michigan State UniversityMichigan State University
Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...
in East Lansing
East Lansing, Michigan
East Lansing is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is located directly east of Lansing, Michigan, the state's capital. Most of the city is within Ingham County, though a small portion lies in Clinton County. The population was 48,579 at the time of the 2010 census, an increase from...
, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, earning a bachelor's in sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
in 1978.
Diplomat and intelligence chief
Koussa worked as a security specialist for Libyan embassies in Europe before being appointed as Libya's Ambassador to the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in 1980. He was expelled from the United Kingdom in 1980, after stating in an interview with The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
newspaper that his government intended to eliminate two political opponents of the Libyan government, who were living in the UK.
Later he served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1992 to 1994 and as the head of the Libyan intelligence agency
Jamahiriya el-Mukhabarat
Mukhabarat el-Jamahiriya is the national intelligence service of Libya. During the 2011 Libyan civil war, agency director Abuzed Omar Dorda was captured by anti-Gaddafi forces, and many of the agency's functions were disrupted or usurped as a result of the conflict.-Operations:Mukhabarat...
from 1994 to 2009. He was a key figure in the normalization of relations between Libya and many NATO nations, including the United States and the United Kingdom. Koussa was key in securing the release of Pan Am Flight 103
Pan Am Flight 103
Pan Am Flight 103 was Pan American World Airways' third daily scheduled transatlantic flight from London Heathrow Airport to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport...
bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi. In October 2008, he met both British and Scottish government officials, listed as an interpreter. In a second visit in January 2009, he was listed as Minister of Security.
Foreign minister
On 4 March 2009, Koussa was designated as Minister of Foreign Affairs, replacing Abdel Rahman ShalghamAbdel Rahman Shalgham
Abdel Rahman Shalgam is a Libyan politician. He was Foreign Minister of Libya from 2000 to 2009.From 1984 to 1995, before taking the office of Foreign Minister, Abdel Rahman Shalgham was Secretary of Libya's People's Bureau to Rome, Italy.From 1998 to 2000 he was appointed Secretary of Foreign...
, in a ministerial reshuffle announced by the Libyan parliament.
In April 2009, he presided over the 28th council meeting of the Arab Maghreb Union
Arab Maghreb Union
The Arab Maghreb Union is a trade agreement aiming for economic and some sort of future political unity in North Africa between the countries Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Mauritania...
(comprising Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
, Libya, Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
, Mauritania
Mauritania
Mauritania is a country in the Maghreb and West Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, by Western Sahara in the north, by Algeria in the northeast, by Mali in the east and southeast, and by Senegal in the southwest...
and Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
) in the Libyan capital Tripoli
Tripoli
Tripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Western Tripoli , to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean , describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli is a Greek name that means "Three...
.
In an interview published by Asharq Al-Awsat on 10 November 2009, Koussa criticized some aspects of Chinese
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
investment in Africa. Koussa said, "I do not consider what I said to be a campaign against the Chinese; on the contrary we have a positive opinion of the Chinese", but despite the fact that "China has aided us and the liberation movements [in Africa]", it was unacceptable for the Chinese to bring "thousands of Chinese workers to Africa" when Africans themselves needed jobs, and he spoke of "a Chinese invasion of the African continent" that he said "brings to mind the effects that colonialism had on the African continent". He called on China to rather "train the African workforce" instead. Koussa also criticized China's unwillingness to deal with the African Union
African Union
The African Union is a union consisting of 54 African states. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established on 9 July 2002, the AU was formed as a successor to the Organisation of African Unity...
and its preference for dealing with individual African states, which he said was suggestive of a divide and rule
Divide and rule
In politics and sociology, divide and rule is a combination of political, military and economic strategy of gaining and maintaining power by breaking up larger concentrations of power into chunks that individually have less power than the one implementing the strategy...
policy. Furthermore, he stressed the importance of political cooperation in addition to economic cooperation, saying that the former was lacking in China's relationship with Africa. He said that China only dealt in business, and never engaged in political support, in order to please all sides in a dispute. He suggested that China engage the Arab/African/Islamic world with political support, rather than just keeping relations "limited to building roads and schools".
Koussa was described as "hands shaking" as he announced a ceasefire
Ceasefire
A ceasefire is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. Ceasefires may be declared as part of a formal treaty, but they have also been called as part of an informal understanding between opposing forces...
weeks into the 2011 civil war, after the UN Security Council
United Nations Security Council
The United Nations Security Council is one of the principal organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the United Nations Charter, include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of...
had opened the way to a no-fly zone. Western "officials indicated that they were prepared to move quickly if a decision was made to take military action. France and the UK and then the United States responded [to the ceasefire announcement] with almost identically worded skepticism ...." Attacks by government troops on Benghazi
Benghazi
Benghazi is the second largest city in Libya, the main city of the Cyrenaica region , and the former provisional capital of the National Transitional Council. The wider metropolitan area is also a district of Libya...
were also being reported – and denied – at the time, some hours after the announced ceasefire.
On 29 March 2011, Koussa wrote to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
Ban Ki-moon
Ban Ki-moon is the eighth and current Secretary-General of the United Nations, after succeeding Kofi Annan in 2007. Before going on to be Secretary-General, Ban was a career diplomat in South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the United Nations. He entered diplomatic service the year he...
, nominating the former foreign minister of Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
’s socialist Sandinista government and one-time president of the United Nations General Assembly, Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, as Libya’s new ambassador to the UN. The letter stated that Brockmann was nominated, as Ali Treki, also a former General Assembly president who was their first choice, was denied a visa to enter the United States under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, on the situation in Libya, is a measure that was adopted on 17 March 2011. The Security Council resolution was proposed by France, Lebanon, and the United Kingdom....
.
Departure and resignation
After departing Tripoli by car and arriving in TunisTunis
Tunis is the capital of both the Tunisian Republic and the Tunis Governorate. It is Tunisia's largest city, with a population of 728,453 as of 2004; the greater metropolitan area holds some 2,412,500 inhabitants....
, Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
, on 28 March 2011, via the Ras Ajdir border crossing, a Tunisian Government spokesman stated via Tunis Afrique Presse
Tunis Afrique Presse
Tunis Afrique Presse is a Tunisian press agency founded on January 1, 1961. It is a monopoly as the only source of information in Tunisia ....
that Koussa had arrived on a "private visit." On 30 March 2011, he departed from Djerba
Djerba
Djerba , also transliterated as Jerba or Jarbah, is, at 514 km², the largest island of North Africa, located in the Gulf of Gabes, off the coast of Tunisia.-Description:...
on a Swiss-registered
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
private jet, arriving at Farnborough Airfield
Farnborough Airfield
Farnborough Airport or TAG London Farnborough Airport is an airport situated in Farnborough, Rushmoor, Hampshire, England...
, England, according to Libyan sources on a diplomatic mission. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO is a British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas, created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.The head of the FCO is the...
later released an official press statement, stating that Koussa no longer wished to represent the Libyan government and intended to resign, unhappy with Libyan Army
Libyan Army
In 2009 the IISS estimated that the Ground Forces of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya numbered 25,000 with an additional, estimated, 25,000 conscripts...
attacks on civilians.
Scottish prosecutors are seeking to interview Koussa about the Lockerbie bombing
Pan Am Flight 103
Pan Am Flight 103 was Pan American World Airways' third daily scheduled transatlantic flight from London Heathrow Airport to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport...
, which killed 270 people. At the time, Koussa was a leading member of the Libyan Bureau for External Security (the Mathaba) which was suspected to be responsible.
Moussa Koussa's role in the torture and deaths of Libyan people was alleged by the BBC television Panorama programme (broadcast on 24/10/2011) and denied by him through his lawyer. Koussa left the United Kingdom and moved to Qatar
Qatar
Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...
following a European Union decision to lift sanctions against him, meaning he no longer faces travel restrictions or an asset freeze.
See also
- Moussa IbrahimMoussa IbrahimMoussa Ibrahim is a Libyan political figure, serving as Libyan Minister of Information and the official spokesman for Muammar Gaddafi as of March 2011. He came to general international attention during the 2011 Libyan civil war.-Biography:...
- General People's Committee of LibyaGeneral People's Committee of LibyaThe General People's Committee , often abbreviated as the GPCO, acted as secretaries for various Libyan ministries during the era of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya...
- List of Libyans
External links
|-|-