TIMES ONLINE: Philippe Skaff faced a formidable challenge even before Libya gave the Lockerbie bomber such a rapturous homecoming last week: to erase memories of that country’s terrorist-sponsoring, WMD-producing past with a shining new global image.
It is a long-term project, but the six days of spectacular celebrations that the communications executive and his team are organising to mark Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s 40 years in power next week will be the “launch pad”, he says. “It’s the great coming-out party. These celebrations will definitely be the turning point for Libya.”
Cost is no object to this oil-rich state. Some of the world’s leading event management companies have been roped in, Tripoli is being given the mother of all facelifts and the once-closed country is admitting foreigners in unprecedented numbers.
But there are problems that no amount of festivity can obscure. One is that the celebrations come just as world attention is focused on the release of Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi, the Libyan convicted of Britain’s deadliest terrorist attack. Another is that, for all its recent courtship of the West, Libya remains a repressive police state ruled by a ruthless egomaniac.
A third is that while the entire world is being offered free live television coverage, the climax — a three-hour extravaganza on what Mr Skaff says is the biggest stage ever built — starts at 11pm local time when most of the globe is sleeping.
Mr Skaff, 52, the Canadian chief executive of Grey Worldwide Middle East and North Africa Network communications group, whose clients include BP, Bacardi, Union Carbide and BAT, is candid about his brief. It is to rebrand a country that has renounced terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, and to banish its pariah past.
“That image is not one they want to linger,” he told The Times. “They feel they have opened up, but the world has not responded the way they expected. They feel disappointed. They have made the effort and given in on a lot of issues to rejoin the international community. They are really changing.”
He hopes that next week’s celebrations will change the outside world’s opinion of Libya, and erode Libya’s suspicion of the outside world. He says that they will emphasise all that is good about Libya — its history, culture, scenery and warm people. >>> Martin Fletcher in Tripoli | Wednesday, August 26, 2009
TIMES ONLINE:
Marching band to hit big time controversy at Gaddafi parade >>> Simon de Bruxelles | Wednesday, August 26, 2009
