Moussa Koussa's defection: Dancing with the devil?

Published on Friday 1 April 2011 22:15

Libyan defector Moussa Koussa may hold the key to the Lockerbie bombing. But how far will realpolitik and his links with MI6 influence the UK's next move, asks Dani Garavelli

MOUSSA Koussa's arrival at Farnborough Airport in Hampshire last week marked the climax of one carefully orchestrated exercise and the start of another.

The former foreign minister told Muammar al-Gaddafi he was in need of urgent medical care in order to secure safe passage from Libya to Tunisia. Once there, he touched base with MI6 before boarding a privately chartered Swiss jet from Djerba to the UK, the country which - 31 years earlier - had expelled him when, as Libyan ambassador, he publicly endorsed plans to kill two dissidents living here.

But the machinations surrounding Koussa's defection are nothing compared to the sophisticated balancing act the coalition government has had to perform since he touched down on British soil.

On one hand, David Cameron and William Hague were jubilant: a man at the heart of the Gaddafi regime was prepared to denounce it, just as it appeared to be holding its own against the rebels. Hopes were high that his flight would encourage more defectors. And who better to tell the British military how to force out the Colonel than his one-time right-hand man?

No sooner had Koussa, said to be in a fragile state of mind, landed than he was whisked to a safe house where MI6 and the British ambassador to Libya, Richard Northern, "gently" tried to extract information on the regime's weak spots.

Yet even as David Cameron celebrated the PR coup, pressure was mounting on the government to prove Koussa - whose name has been linked to many atrocities, including the cover-up that followed the murder of WPC Yvonne Fletcher, shot outside the Libyan embassy in London in 1984; the attack on a Berlin disco which claimed the lives of two American soldiers in 1986; and the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie in 1989 - was not being given a "free pass" to the UK.

Many also want to see the man once dubbed "the envoy of death" held to account for his support for the IRA during the 1980s, including Libya supplying tonnes of Semtex to the paramilitaries.

Senior Scottish government sources say the Crown Office and Dumfries and Galloway Police, who have told the Foreign Office they want to interview Koussa over Lockerbie, acted so quickly in order to stop him being "spirited away" to the US.

But neither their rapid reaction nor William Hague's insistence that the defector has not been granted "immunity from prosecution" have been enough to reassure those convinced Koussa has been offered some guarantee of protection.

Their suspicions are heightened by the fact that, since 2001, Koussa has been a vital cog in negotiations to end Libya's pariah status, brokering the 2.7 billion compensation deal for the victims of the Lockerbie bombing, Libya's agreement to stop its weapons of mass destruction programme (though some doubt it ever had one) and the resumption of trade links.

So heavily was Koussa involved, former foreign secretary Jack Straw called him a "key contact", prompting some to speculate about his relationship with MI6.

Koussa was also involved in securing the compassionate release of terminally ill Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi - the only man convicted of the Lockerbie attack - from Greenock Prison.

"The priority for intelligence officers will be to identify further possible splits in the leadership group around Gaddafi," said a source close to the security services. "They will want to indicate by the way they treat him that there is a way out for other members of the group.

"The aim will be to reduce Gaddafi to himself and his sons because, although a lot of them hate one other, they seem to have got tighter as a group. Then they'll want actionable intelligence on who's where, and where one might drop a stray bomb or missile and kill the Colonel."

But for others, the main aspect of Koussa's defection is the opportunity to find out more about the Lockerbie bombing.

While some in Scotland - including Professor Robert Black, one of the architects of the trial at Camp Zeist - have previously been sceptical about al-Megrahi's guilt, believing Syria to have been responsible, American families have long believed Libya was behind the bombing and last month former Libyan Justice Minister Mustafa Mohamed Abud al Jeleil claimed Gaddafi had personally ordered the attack.

"Koussa was at the centre of Gaddafi's inner circle. This is a guy who knows everything," said Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was killed above Lockerbie, and who once described Koussa as the "scariest" man he had ever met.

As usual, US victims' representatives have been more militant. "He should not be treated as a witness but as part of the criminal enterprise that brought down the plane," Frank Duggan, president of the Victims of Pan Am 103 group, said. "He knows who ordered it, who made the bomb, who paid for it, who transported it to Malta and how it was put on the plane."

Labour's Scottish justice spokesman Richard Baker said he it was essential that the Crown Office was kept in the loop. "I hope the UK government does not proceed without consulting the Crown in Scotland about what they think should be done to ensure we can get enough further information about the Lockerbie bombing and to ensure that if anyone else needs to be prosecuted for this crime, or any further action needs to be taken, that will be done."

Moussa Koussa's long association with Gaddafi - and indeed, with the West - began when he wrote a dissertation on the revolutionary for his thesis for a sociology degree at Michigan State University.

Born into a well-to-do Tripoli family, he interviewed several members of the revolutionary's extended family and was soon invited to be part of his inner circle.

From 1979 to 1980, he was in charge of security at all Libyan embassies in northern Europe, during which time half a dozen exiled Libyans were assassinated, allegedly on his orders.

After he was expelled from the UK, he became a key figure in Libya, working closely with the IRA. He has also been linked to the bombing of the UTA DC10 flight which exploded over Niger, killing 170 people, including 54 French nationals, in 1989, and the disappearance of Libya's former UN ambassador Mansour Kikhia who vanished from his exile in Cairo.

Yet, after 9/11, Libya seized on the opportunity to come in from the cold. Koussa is said to have flown to London just weeks after the attacks, bringing with him files about known al-Qaeda terrorists. Koussa was also one of three Libyans in the famous meeting at the Travellers Club in Pall Mall when the wording of the statement in which Libya agreed to surrender its WMD programme was thrashed out.

In the past few months, however, it seems he has been marginalised, perhaps because of his role in cosying up to the West. The Crown Office in Scotland is not the only authority interested in questioning him now. Families of those aboard the UTA DC10 flight have also asked the French prosecutor's anti-terrorism office to interrogate Koussa, saying he could provide new information on the case.

Yet, despite the pleas of the Scottish authorities - and David Cameron's agreement in principle - it could take weeks for them to gain access. And even when they do, there is no reason to believe Koussa will disclose anything of value.

Could the relatives of the 259 people on board and the 11 people on the ground in Lockerbie who lost their lives have an outside chance of a degree of closure? Or will the realpolitik of the Libyan crisis make Scottish justice a secondary concern?

"The Scottish police are the ones responsible for the Lockerbie investigation, and I heard they've set aside a senior officer in case it's possible to interview him, but from Koussa's perspective he will be trying to bargain some sort of immunity or else safe passage to another country, because he will be interested primarily in his own survival and well-being, and the extent to which he will be a reliable witness is very difficult to say," says Professor Paul Rogers, of Bradford University's Peace Studies Centre.

The situation is further complicated by reports that Gaddafi's forces have captured Koussa's wife and are "interrogating" her about her husband and his friends. In the UK, a desire to get as much as possible out of Koussa is tempered with concerns about what the stories told by defectors could reveal. One only has to consider the extent to which the British establishment is embroiled with the Gaddafi regime to understand how difficult it is to conduct an independent investigation and how embarrassing it might be if everything came out into the open.

Take the controversy over Gaddafi son's Saif's Phd from the London School of Economics. The university has appointed Lord Woolf to investigate links to the Gaddafi regime - including a 1.5m donation and a 2.2m contract to train Libya's civil service - forged while Peter Sutherland, the former chairman of BP who was with Tony Blair in the desert and later signed a 545m oil deal, was chair of the court of governors.

In the same way, Koussa has inside knowledge about how al-Megrahi's release was secured, an issue which has been the source of much political disquiet north and south of the Border.

London Mayor Boris Johnson has said if there was any evidence linking Koussa to the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 he should be tried. But government "sources" seem to be distancing themselves from the prospect of a prosecution, insisting they do not believe Koussa was directly involved in it or the murder of Yvonne Fletcher, and hinting he will be treated as a potential witness rather than a suspect.

"Whether we like it or not, the government's first priority will be to try to get some end to what is happening in Libya," said Prof Rogers. "What has happened there is real 'mission creep' from what was intended initially as a humanitarian endeavour to something which is now amounting to regime termination. The British and the French realise how problematic this is becoming and in that sense any kind of way they can get through to the regime is useful."

Koussa's decision may already be having an impact. On Friday, the government said it was in talks with up to a further ten senior figures in Gaddafi's regime about possible defection. Rumours circulating through the Libyan capital suggest Omar Abu Said Dudali, head of the external intelligence service, Mohammed Zwei, the secretary of the General People's Congress, deputy foreign minister Abdul Ati al-Obeidi and oil minister Shokri Ghanem, may be among those preparing to leave.

However, on Friday there were reports of fierce gunbattles at the Tripoli compound that houses the families of members of the regime's elite. It is thought Gaddafi's men seized senior figures who were attempting to follow Koussa to the West.

At the same time, Mohammed Ismail, an aide to Saif is said to have been sent to the UK to discuss a potential exit strategy, although the Foreign Office has refused to confirm or deny the reports.

What happens to Koussa in the long-term depends on developments in Libya.

Some have speculated that as long as Gaddafi stays in power the British government will have to provide protection at the taxpayers' expense.

Elsewhere, there has been pressure for him to be immediately imprisoned, as Rudolf Hess was when he defected from Germany during the Second World War. If Gaddafi goes soon, however, there will be intense pressure from the rebels to hand over Koussa - especially as he has been linked to the murder of dissidents in Europe - and the British government may be tempted to wash its hands of him.

Defectors, waverers and loyalists

DEFECTORS

Moussa Koussa

Muammar al-Gaddafi's foreign minister fled from Tripoli after the imposition of UN sanctions at the end of February. Ran Libya's involvement in worldwide terrorism campaigns before controlling international reconciliation process.

Mustafa Abdel-Jalil

Justice minister defected early in the popular uprising. Now part of Libya's rebel leadership and chairman of the Interim Transitional National Council.

Ali Abdessalam Treki

Diplomat and president of the UN General Assembly since 2009. Fled to Egypt on Wednesday after Libyan delegation at UN unanimously denounced Colonel Gaddafi.

Gen Abdel-Fattah Younis

Interior minister defected in late February after being sent to crush the uprising in east. Now part of the rebel leadership organising fighting forces.

ON THE BRINK

Shukri Ghanem

Former prime minister and the current head of Libya's state oil company, his reputation as a reformer and his experience in oil would make him a valuable addition to the rebel cause.

Omar Durdah

Head of external intelligence declared loyalty to Gaddafi on state television on Friday. Initially reported he had fled with Moussa Koussa to Tunisia but is now back in Tripoli.

Abdulati al-Obeidi

Minister for European relations, was among the delegation that fled to Tunisia with Koussa, but has since returned to Tripoli.

LOYALISTS

Mutassim Gaddafi

Leader's son and National Security Adviser, he is the most likely successor and has received the support of tribal chiefs and security officials.

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi

LSE-educated second son disappointed his western patrons by vowing to defend his father's regime "until the last bullet".

Matouk Mohammed Matouk

In charge of infrastructure and said to be accountable for the killing of WPC Yvonne Fletcher in 1984. A member of Megarha tribe, key to Gaddafi's survival.

Abdulgader al-Baghdadi

Equivalent of cabinet secretary and chief whip also linked to Fletcher shooting.