Libya withdraws from Arab League

The Libyan government has decided to withdraw from the Arab League, its official news agency announced yesterday.

The report, citing a statement by the Ministry of African Affairs, gave no reason for the decision. However, Libyan officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, cited the Arab League's "inefficiency" in dealing with the crises over Iraq and the Palestinians.

The Libyan leader, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, has turned his attention to Africa in recent years after African countries decided to break the UN air embargo imposed on Libya in connection with the 1988 bombing of an American airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 270 people.

The Arab states disappointed Colonel Gaddafi by continuing to observe the embargo until the United Nations suspended it in 1999. He then became a driving force behind the new African Union in July in South Africa.

The Secretary-General of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, travelled to Tripoli earlier this month in an effort to discourage Libya from withdrawing.