Libya's Gadhafi content to miss the Millennium Summit

Gadhafi touts a new era in Libya in a CNN interview on Thursday

TRIPOLI, Libya (CNN) -- Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi sharply rejected the status of the United Nations as a world body, telling CNN on Thursday that he had no desire to join more than 150 other global leaders at the U.N. Millennium Summit.

"I do not consider the United Nations as it is now to be a real united nations," Gadhafi told CNN's Jonathan Mann. "If they reform it, and they should, then there is a possibility to go and talk there."

But, the controversial Libyan leader said, neither the structure of the summit nor the U.N. itself held any appeal.

VIDEO Jonathan Mann interviews Moammar Gadhafi Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)     MESSAGE BOARD Millennium Summit     RESOURCES Background on U.N. Summit     ALSO List of world leaders speaking at U.N. summit U.N. schedule of speakers for Thursday

"Do you expect me to go across the Atlantic Ocean just to speak for five minutes?" he said. "(The U.N.) is a place just to make speeches. It is a decoration." The world leaders at the Millennium Summit have been taking the stage to each give a five-minute speech.

But Gadhafi touted a "new era" in Libya, saying his country was committed to building a safer, more secure international climate.

"It is a new world, a world of peace, a world of cooperation," he said. "It is the era of the masses."

Libya helped negotiate the release of hostages held by militant Muslim rebels in the Philippines, saying the rebel group trusted Libya because of its longtime support of the Muslim minority in the island nation.

Abu Sayyaf rebels still hold 19 hostages on the Jolo islands of southern Philippines. Twenty-one hostages were snagged from a Malaysian diving resort in April, and 17 more later.

Referring to the fate of American hostage Jeffrey Schilling -- kidnapped last week -- Gadhafi told Mann that "we do not differentiate between American and non-American hostages. We do our best to release all the hostages."

Despite years of animosity between Libya and the United States, Gadhafi said he saw nothing "that hinders normalizing relations between the two countries."

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ArabNet - Libya
United Nations
  • Millennium Summit

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