“I think they cannot avoid each other,” quipped Aujali, recalling Obama’s widely hyped handshake with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez at a regional summit in Trinidad earlier this year. “America’s relations with us are much better than their relations with Venezuela. And since he took office, we’ve heard a lot of very promising and constructive comments from President Obama.” Yet while Obama was still a candidate, according to a Reuters news report, Gaddafi said the senator from Illinois would have an “inferiority complex” because of his race and that if elected president, he might “behave worse than whites.” But the Libyan ruler later called Obama’s White House win a “victory for black people.” Still, for many observers, Gaddafi seems to relish his gaffes and provocations. His eccentricity was on full display during a June visit to Italy, where Gaddafi was accompanied by his usual entourage of female bodyguards, reportedly requesting to meet with 700 Italian women, perhaps as part of his stated desire to “save European women.” In rambling remarks, he also praised Italy as the only colonial state that had “cleaned up its past from expansionist and colonialist policies.” And despite his fervent pan-African nationalism, Gaddafi’s controversial views and behavior are cause for concern — even among many of his African colleagues. According to a New York Times account, his recent installation in Addis Ababa as head of the African Union “resembled more of a coronation than a democratic transfer of power. Col. Gaddafi was dressed in flowing gold robes and surrounded by traditional African leaders who hailed him as the ‘king of kings.’” Gaddafi is a vocal supporter of transforming the fragmented continent into a United States of Africa, a prospect even many Africans debunk as fantasy. “He has repeatedly proposed immediate unity and the establishment of a single currency, army and passport for the entire continent,” the Times wrote. “While a few African leaders share his passion and his timetable for this pan-African vision, most prefer a go-slow approach” and some say the idea is downright ridiculous. Yet Aujali says his boss isn’t just looking for a good photo op. “There is not a single leader in Africa who doesn’t recognize Leader Gaddafi’s effort to bring Africans together, solving critical problems which are killing people every day,” he told The Diplomat. “Libya is getting nothing for ourselves. We are doing this just to get Africans to help each other, instead of fighting. Libya has no special interests in Africa.” The ambassador added: “We must defuse the crisis in Darfur and normalize humanitarian aid. Africa deserves more attention, and we must create jobs in Africa if we want to stop illegal immigration to Europe.” But some critics say all this is a diversion to steer attention away from Libya’s own shabby record on human rights. According to a Freedom House report on Libya, “while there have been some tentative steps in the field of economic reform, political change has remained largely off the agenda. Col. Gaddafi has shown no willingness to alter the fundamentals of the Libyan political system. Political parties are banned, and there are no genuinely independent civil society organizations.” The report concludes: “While there has been an easing in recent years whereby the regime allows some degree of criticism of certain aspects of the government and encourages former dissidents to return to the country, anyone daring openly to challenge the regime or the Libyan state is in danger of arrest, torture and imprisonment.” On that note, Gaddafi’s loudest critics abroad were outraged in late May when Libya’s most famous dissident, Fathi al-Jahmi, died in Amman, Jordan, two weeks after being allowed to leave a Tripoli hospital. “Fathi al-Jahmi suffered six and a half years of detention, including periods he spent incommunicado, for advocating a free press, free elections and nonviolent democratic reform in his native Libya,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “He should never have been arrested in the first place.” But Ambassador Aujali dismisses any suggestions that Gaddafi systematically engages in human rights abuses, insisting that — on the contrary — “there’s lots of progress” on this front. “These accusations are unfounded,” he said. “Human rights is an issue not only in Libya, but every single country in the world. I think the United States is included in this, too. But so many steps have been taken to improve human rights in Libya. For example, human rights organizations go to Libya all the time; they visit detainees if there are any. And the Gaddafi Foundation is very much involved in the protection of human rights.” Jahmi though clearly never benefitted from Gaddafi’s human rights outreach. His detention and death reflect the pitfalls of Western rapprochement with Tripoli. Nevertheless, with vast energy potential and a renouncement of nuclear weapons, that rapprochement remains on track, as evidenced by the diplomatic progress made locally in Washington. These days, except for its inability to issue tourist visas to average Americans, the Libyan Embassy — located on the seventh floor of the Watergate Office Building overlooking the Potomac River — functions just as any other mission in town. Iran and North Korea, which are blacklisted by the State Department as state sponsors of terrorism, don’t even have embassies here. Since both are enthusiastically racing to acquire the ability to manufacture nuclear technology, we asked Aujali if there were any lessons to be learned from Gaddafi’s 2003 pledge to forever renounce weapons of mass destruction. “The North Koreans are looking very carefully at what Libya got from the United States. Does the administration keep their promises? I believe this is a very important issue,” Aujali responded. “But if you just want North Korea or other countries to give up what they have without getting something in return, it will not be a very successful policy. The first thing is, you have to be ready to talk — which was not the policy of the previous administration.” The same thing, he said, goes for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s Iran. “There is nothing else you can do with Iran but talk to them and show them you’re serious about your approach. Iran is a big country with a great history and cannot be ignored. Iran is much larger than Libya, and they have more options than we had.” Aujali has no shortage of opinions when it comes to the Arab-Israeli conflict either. “Leader Gaddafi believes in a one-state solution for Israel and Palestine. He calls this state Isratine,” the ambassador said, referring to a proposal widely dismissed by Israel and its Arab neighbors. “I’m happy to see that President Obama showed from the first day he’s concerned about peace in the Middle East. His speech in Cairo was very promising. He went to the Arab world to speak directly to us. I believe that now Arabs feel more comfortable dealing with the United States. We never heard this positive approach before in American history.” Aujali declined to say publicly what would happen if Israel — with which Libya has no diplomatic relations — launched a military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities, insisting that “there is no option for Israel but peace. They are surrounded by Arab nations, and you need a great leader to make peace.” Asked if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Net-anyahu is such a leader, Aujali smiled. “Our experience with Netanyahu is not very encouraging.” On a brighter note, Aujali said he’s working with the State Department to normalize the visa process for Libyans seeking to visit the United States. “We were giving tourists visas for the first year, expecting that the U.S. would reciprocate. But it didn’t happen, so we stopped,” Aujali explained. “Once the visa issue is resolved, I expect lots of Americans to come. I’ve told my government that every time an American travels to Libya, we gain a new friend. They see Libya with their own eyes, they find the Libyan people are friendly, and there’s lots to see — Roman antiquities, beautiful coastline, deserts. And it’s safe.” Reporters generally like to leave the most difficult questions for last, and the issue of succession in Libya is a taboo subject. So it was no surprise when, toward the end of our lengthy meeting, The Diplomat delicately asked Aujali what would happen after Col. Gaddafi, who just turned 67, passes from the scene. The ambassador smiled again politely, took a sip of tea and said, “Please do not ask me this question.” Larry Luxner is news editor of The Washington Diplomat.

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