Africa News Service
05-JUL-98
NewsFlash - June 6 - Gadhafi Breaks Bone
TRIPOLI, Libya (PANA, 07/05/98) - The Libyan leader Col. Moammar Kadhafi is making fresh mediation efforts to end the Eritrea-Ethiopia border dispute that broke out on 12 May, according to a report on Radio Libya Sunday.
The mediation is being undertaken within the framework of the Sahel-Saharan Community which groups Burkina Faso, Chad, Libya, Mali, Niger, Mali and Sudan.
The radio said Kadhafi, the community's current chairman, has sent the organisation's Secretary General, Madani Lazhari of Libya and his Chadian assistant, Adam Tokwe, for another round of mediation talks with the leadership in Eritrea and Ethiopia.
The two officials held an audience with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi Friday in Addis Ababa and on Saturday evening with the Eritrean President Issaias Afwerki in Asmara.
Lazhari and Tokwe have visited Addis Ababa and Asmara twice in late May and early June in an attempt to stop the border dispute from escalating into a full-scale war.
Col. Kadhafi is urging the belligerents to accept a cease-fire, arbitration by the Hague-based International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the deployment of troops from countries in the Sahelian-Saharan community in the disputed border areas.
According to Radio Libya, Eritrea favourably welcomed Khadafi's proposals and any other initiative that would help bring about a solution to the border conflict.
A plan put forward by Rwanda and the United States collapsed after Eritrea's refusal to withdraw its troops to positions they held before 12 May.
Ethiopia insists that any peace talks over the border dispute can only take place after Eritrea has withdrawn its troops from the disputed area.
Asmara claims that it only retook Eritrean territory that was had been illegally taken by Addis Ababa.
NewsFlash - June 6 - Gadhafi Breaks Bone
JULY 06, 15:36 EDT
Libyan Leader Gadhafi Breaks Bone
AL-BAYDA, Libya (AP) — Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi fractured a bone near his hip after tripping and falling while exercising, his doctor said.
The announcement was made during a live television broadcast in which Gadhafi, draped in a white sheet, lay on a hospital bed and welcomed visiting African dignitaries.
Gadhafi was to undergo surgery later Monday, the doctor said at a news conference in a large conference hall.
Gadhafi was shown speaking with his hands propping up his head. His voice sounded strong but he occasionally grimaced.
His left foot, peeking out from under the sheet, rested against a traction bar attached to the bed.
The doctor, who did not identify himself, described the injury as a ``straightforward fracture.'' He displayed X-rays showing the top of the femur, the leg bone that extends from the knee to the hip. It was not clear if Gadhafi suffered a broken leg bone or a broken hip.
In his comments, Gadhafi said that during the past few weeks news organizations ``fabricated'' reports that he survived an assassination attempt. ``Now it is true there is a break, but last time there was nothing,'' he said.
A Libyan Islamic opposition group claimed it killed four bodyguards and wounded Gadhafi in a June 1 attack. Libyan officials immediately denied the claim.