O R 031354Z JUL 08
FM AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3637
INFO AMEMBASSY TUNIS
AMEMBASSY ALGIERS
AMEMBASSY RABAT
AMEMBASSY CAIRO
AMEMBASSY LONDON
AMEMBASSY PARIS
AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI
C O N F I D E N T I A L TRIPOLI 000530
DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/MAG AND DRL/NESCA
E.O. 12958: DECL: 6/25/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM ODIP LY
SUBJECT: LIBYA'S BERBER MINORITY STILL OUT IN THE COLD
CLASSIFIED BY: Chris Stevens, CDA, AmEmbassy Tripoli, State. REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 1. (C) Summary: Despite some evidence
in 2007 of a thaw in Libya's decades-long marginalization of its Berber minority, the Government of Libya (GOL) has
recently renewed its vigorous denials that any ethno-linguistically distinct Berber communities exist on Libyan
territory. In May, Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi made an unprecedented visit to the Berber heartland to praise the "Arab
belonging and destiny" of the Libyan people, and to decry "foreign intelligence plots" to fracture Libyans along ethnic
or sectarian lines. Post's efforts to visit areas with significant Berber populations and to meet with government
officials to discuss Libya's Berber heritage have met with angry GOL denials and accusations of "unacceptable
interference" in Libya's domestic affairs. The GOL took the unusual step of forbidding all Embassy personnel from
visiting the town of Zuwara, a large Berber community. The GOL's hard line on Libya's Berber minority underscores that
sectarian and ethnic identity remains a sensitive issue for influential elements of the regime. End summary. DESPITE
MELLOWING, OFFICIAL DENIAL THAT LIBYA IS ANYTHING BUT HOMOGENEOUS PERSIST 2. (C) In 2007, the GOL showed some evidence
of mellowing its long-standing denials that any Berber community exists on Libyan territory. (Note: Post and other
international observers estimate that 25,000 to 150,000 ethnic Berbers live in Libya. End note.) The GOL for the first
time granted permission to the Amazigh (or Berber) World Congress to host a large gathering in Tripoli in August 2007.
PM Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi and Saif al-Islam Qadhafi, Qadhafi's second oldest son and president of the Qadhafi Development
Foundation, made high-profile visits in August and September 2007 to the predominantly Berber communities around Zuwara,
Nalut, and Kabao to announce major infrastructure investments designed to revitalize Libya's historic Berber heartland.
3. (C) In May 2008, Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi himself made an unprecedented visit to meet with a number of
obstensibly Berber tribes in Jadu; however, in contrast to Saif al-Islam's travels, Qadhafi used his May 17 visit to
vigorously deny Libya's Berber history. According to accounts in state-owned media, representatives of prominent Berber
communities, including the Berber centers of Nalut and Kabao, issued a statement on the occasion of Qadhafi's visit
praising the "Arab belonging and destiny" of all Libyans and rejecting "claims propagated by the envious agents of the
West and its intelligence bodies to divide~ [Libya] under false ethnic, sectarian, and tribal slogans". A contact of the
Embassy whose family hails from the Jadu area said that Qadhafi had privately warned the leaders of the community that,
"You can call yourselves whatever you want inside your homes -- Berbers, Children of Satan, whatever -- but you are only
Libyans when you leave your homes." POST'S OUTREACH ON BERBER ISSUES DEEMED "UNACCEPTABLE INTERFERENCE" IN INTERNAL
AFFAIRS 4. (C) In March, Post informed the GOL that an Emboff planned to travel to Zuwara (the unofficial capital of
Libya's Berber community located approximately 100 km west of Tripoli) to meet with local officials to discuss Libya's
Berber heritage. On April 1, MFA Americas Desk Officer Muhammad Ayad convoked A/DCM and Poloff to deny the existence of
any Berber community in Libya and to accuse Post of "unacceptable interference" in Libya's domestic affairs. All Libyans
are Arabs who migrated to Libya from the Arabian Peninsula approximately 1,000 years ago, he explained, adding that no
Libyans speak any language other than Arabic. Responding to a comment by A/DCM, he angrily insisted that the Berber
language was "merely a dialect or accent" of Arabic, likening it to the difference between Maghrebi and Shami dialects
of Arabic. Sharply criticizing Emboffs for "misunderstanding" Libya, Ayab cautioned Post "not to try to find obstacles"
to better bilateral U.S.-Libya relations by intefering in purely local matters. He added that "this issue (the Berbers)
is too sensitive for us (Libya) to discuss". 5. (C) Ayab also passed a diplomatic note articulating the GOL's objections
(para 7); he called the next day to recall the first iteration of the note and pass a more sharply worded version (para
8) that denied permission for Emboffs to visit Zuwara and threatened that the GOL could not/not guarantee mission
personnel's safety if they insisted on making the trip. The ostensible concern was that members of the Berber community
would be angered by the implication that they were members of a minority group, an implication that the dipnote likened
to depriving them of their citizenship, and could assault Emboffs. (Note: Emboffs have previously visited the Jebel
Nafusa area and Zuwara, where members of the Berber minority take great pride in their distinctive ethno-linguistic
heritage and take pains to tell visitors that they are not/not Arab, prefer not to speak Arabic and do not inter-marry
with Arabs. Zuwara is widely known for reverse discrimination: Berber inhabitants, who constitute the majority of the
town's population, insist on speaking only the Berber language, even with members of the town's Arabic minority. End
note.) Following the Zuwara visit request, the Emboff identified in Post's notification of the planned travel and his
spouse faced heightened surveillance and harassment. A senior Libyan official told CDA in early April that the proposed
visit raised concerns within the security services about Post's efforts to report on political developments in Libya in
general, and about Emboff's outreach to Libyans in particular. 6. (C) Comment: MFA officials and locally engaged staff
who have seen the diplomatic notes are convinced that only a very senior regime figure, possibly Muammar al-Qadhafi
himself, could have authored such sharply worded language in official correspondence. Whether al-Qadhafi actually
authored the replies or not, the official rhetoric that attended his visit to Berber country, together with his remarks
in Jadu, highlight the fact that for him and other senior elements of the GOL, anything suggesting that Libya's
population is not ethnically and religiously homogeneous (there are also significant numbers of Tuareg in the southwest)
is extremely sensitive. End comment. 7. (SBU) The full text of the MFA's first diplomatic note on the Zuwara visit
follows. (begin text) Ref: 2008/515 The General People's Committee Secretariat for Foreign Liaison and International
Cooperation sends its compliments to the US Embassy in the Great Jamahiriya, and further to the Embassy's dip note #
08/262 dated March 26, 2008, it wishes to inform of the following: - In Great Jamahiriya, there is nothing called Berber
community, and the use of this term denotes lack of true knowledge of the history of the region in general and Libya in
particular, and does not reflect the reality and nature of the homogeneous Libyan society. - All Libyans come from Arab
origins; they came from the Arab Peninsula by land (Barr) and that's why some tribes that had arrived earlier in Libya
are called "Barbar" (or Berber). - This is interference in internal affairs, and it is not acceptable, and this is
rejected by Libyans who have sacrificed more than 750 thousand martyrs for the sake of their sovereignty. - The
demographic structure in Libya is a homogenous one that belongs to Arab origins; their language is Arabic (with all the
meanings this word may have) and there is nothing what we might call "community". - This visit is not permitted for the
said person or any other one, and therefore, we shall have no responsibility whatsoever for a visit of this kind. The
General People's Committee Secretariat for Foreign Liaison and International Cooperation avails itself of this
opportunity to renew to the esteemed US Embassy the assurances of its highest considerations. (Seal of the General
People's Secretary for Foreign Liaison and International Cooperation) (end text) 8. (SBU) The full text of the MFA's
second diplomatic note on the Zuwara visit follows. (begin text) Ref: 2008/515 The General People's Committee
Secretariat for Foreign Liaison and International Cooperation sends its compliments to the US Embassy in the Great
Jamahiriya, and further to the Embassy's dip note # 08/262 dated March 26, 2008, sent to General Protocol requesting the
GPC's assistance in arranging a visit by the US Embassy Political Attachi Mr. Joshua Harris to Zuwara city on April 9th,
2009, and the purpose of the visit according to the dip note is to learn about the Libya's Berber community, and
requesting arranging meetings with (The Secretary of the Basic People's Committee of Zuwara/ An appropriate local
official that works with the city's Berber community/ Representatives of the Zuwara Berber community, including any
involved in teaching the Berber language). While the General People's Committee Secretariat for Foreign Liaison and
International Cooperation find this request unusual, it expresses its protest, and requests the Embassy to clarify what
is the Berber community that you wish to visit? And who asked you to do so? And is this area you want to visit is inside
the United States or in Libya? And can we inspect the minorities living in America such as (the blacks, the Red Indians,
and the Chicano~)? Libyans refuse such interference in their internal affairs and sovereignty for the sake of which they
sacrificed more than 750 thousand martyrs, and you know well how they sacrificed and are still doing so for the sake of
their Arab homeland, their nationalism and religion. You know well how many Libyan citizens went to fight in Afghanistan
and Iraq to defend the fatherland and religion and to resist foreign interference. Therefore, we shall not be
responsible for any assaults that might happen to any American that tries to interfere in the internal affairs of the
country whatever was his capacity or his purposes, and we do not find assaults unusual from any group that might be
destitute of its citizenship and called "community or colony" within its own country. This request is therefore very
unusual. We rejected it, and we request a response and an explanation for it. The General People's Committee Secretariat
for Foreign Liaison and International Cooperation avails itself of this opportunity to renew to the esteemed US Embassy
the assurances of its highest considerations. (Seal of the General People's Secretary for Foreign Liaison and
International Cooperation) (end text) STEVENS