Libya asks AL to investigate Saudi accusations

12/23/2004 10:50:00 AM GMT

Libyan authorities demanded the Arab League to investigate into Saudi accusations that Tripoli was involved in a plot to assassinate Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz.

The Libyan News Agency, JANA, said on Thursday that the Libyan Foreign Minister, Abdel Rahman Shalqam, demanded the official investigation during a telephone call with Arab League Secretary General Amr Mousa.

Shalqam requested a thorough probe into the Saudi accusations, stressing "the need to clarify the truth in that case."

On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia announced that it will withdraw its ambassador in Tripoli and expel the Libyan envoy in Riyadh in response to the alleged assassination plan, marking the latest sign of the deteriorating relations between the two countries.

The Libyan Foreign Ministry voiced strong surprise Wednesday. "The Saudi move came as a surprise and at a time nothing had happened between our two countries necessitating such a measure," a ministry statement said.

In October, a U.S. court convicted an American and sentenced him to 23 years in jail for illegal financial dealings with Libya and for his involvement in a Libyan plot to kill Saudi Arabia's de facto leader.

"(We are) surprised that ... Saudi Arabia has decided to withdraw its ambassador from its brother Libya," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassouna Chaouch said in an interview with Al Jazeera satellite station on Wednesday.

"If the recall is because of this false charge about an assassination attempt on the Crown Prince, this has been denied and proven to be incorrect. Enough time has passed over this issue. Why wasn't the ambassador withdrawn at that time?"

Chaouch also demanded Saudi Arabia to explain the reason behind its decision and stressed that Libya wasn’t trying to interfere in the kingdom’s internal affairs, including regime-change protests demanded by the exiled Saudi citizen, Saeed Al Faqih.

"What's new these days, are the demonstrations in Saudi cities called for by Saad al-Faqih and that the kingdom's tribes have transferred their support from the monarchy to Faqih and the arrest of thousands of citizens. These are internal affairs, so what does Libya have to do with them?" He said.