COTONOU, Benin (AFP) — Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi Tuesday lashed out at the controversial Mediterranean Union project aimed at linking Europe with six countries of North Africa which French President Nicolas Sarkozy is due to launch officially July 13 in Paris.
"If the aim is to put Europe in league with six African countries against the rest of Africa, then it's no!," Kadhafi told the 10th summit of the Community of Sahelo-Saharan States (CEN-SAD), which opened Tuesday in the Benin capital Cotonou.
"Initially the project was a union of six countries bordering on the Mediterranean and six European countries on the Mediterranean. We were in agreement with that. But then it became the whole of Europe and the six North African countries, against our interests and we are going to fight that project," he continued.
A week ago Kadhafi had already been outspoken in his criticism of the project.
"We will not under any circumstances take the risk of tearing apart Arab or African unity," he said then, referring to Sarkozy's project as "a form of humiliation".
The Libyan leader, who eclipsed the other heads of state and government attending the summit, criticised other regional bodies such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West African States.
CEN-SAD, whose headquarters are in Tripoli, on Tuesday added three new members: Kenya, Mauritania and Sao Tome and Principe.
They join Libya, Burkina Faso, Mali, Sudan, Chad, Niger, Eritrea, Central African Republic, Senegal, Gambia, Djibouti, Nigeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Somalia, Togo, Guinea, the Comoros, Benin, Egypt, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Ghana and Sierra Leone.
CEN-SAD describes itself as the biggest economic grouping in Africa, saying it has around 411 million inhabitants or 48.2 percent of the continent's population and a gross domestic product (GDP) of around 287 billion dollars, or 44 percent of the continent's total.
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