Gaddafi and Mandela.

Date: 1 September, 1969

On 1 September 1969, Muammar Gaddafi seized power in Libya after a coup d'etat. Gaddafi, was the leader of the Free Unionist Officers movement, overthrew the monarchical rule of King Idris, who had ruled Libya since its independence in December 1951. After his deposition, the king went to exile in Egypt.

In 1970, leaders of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) visited Libya to negotiate using Libyan territory for military training purposes for its armed wing, the Azanian People's Liberation Army (APLA). In 1974, Libya permitted not just the PAC, but also other South African political organizations fighting apartheid, to use Libyan territory. What further encouraged Libyan support for the PAC was its alliance to Qibla, a South African Muslim guerrilla movement. Apart from the PAC and Qibla, other anti apartheid organizations that received Libyan support were the Black People's Convention (BPC) and the South African Students Organization (SASO). Later, the ANC also began using Libya as military training base for some of its cadres in Libya.

In 1997, after the fall of apartheid, Nelson Mandela, accompanied by Graça Machel and Minister of Foreign Affairs Alfred Nzo, defied the international isolation of Libya and visited Muammar Gaddafi. The delegation flew from the Tunisian resort island of Djerba to the Libyan border town of Ras Adjir and then completed the 160 km journey to the Libyan capital of Tripoli by road, due to an air embargo imposed on Libya by the United Nations.

In 1999, Mandela successfully mediated in a long standing dispute between Gaddafi and the West, which saw Libya handover suspects of the Lockerbie bombing for trial in the Netherlands.

References:

1. 23 October 1997, 'Despite U.N. Ban, Mandela Meets Qaddafi in Libya' [online] Available at: www.nytimes.com [Accessed 22 August 2010]
2. Author, (unknown), 23 October 1997, 'Gadaffi my friend' [online] Available at: www.dispatch.co.za [Accessed 22 August 2010]
3. Author, (unknown), 22 October 1997, 'Nelson Mandela visits Libya, embraces Moammar Gadhafi' [online] Available at: edition.cnn.com [Accessed 22 August 2010]
4. Author, (unknown), 28 August 2001, 'Profile: Mandela's Magic touch' [online] Available at: news.bbc.co.uk [Accessed 22 August 2010]
5. Author, (unknown), 22 October 1997, 'South African President Nelson Mandela tried to solve the Lockerbie -Tragedy in Libya and in Scotland' [online] Available at: planetruth.com [Accessed 22 August 2010]
6. Plaatjie, T. (2006) 'The PAC in Exile', in The Road to Democracy in South Africa, Volume 2, 1970-1980, pg. 708, 733-734.
7. St. John, R.B (2008) 'Redefining the Libyan revolution: the changing ideology of Muammar al-Qadd', The Journal of North African Studies, Volume 13, Issue 1, (March 2008), pp. 91 - 106