Times I Met Col. Gadhafi As A News Reporter
(2000) At the Paga border, Upper East region of Ghana when the Libyan Leader traveled the Sahara desert. Col. Muammar Gadhafi in his unpredictable fashion traveled on land with a convoy of 500 vehicles or more across Ghana, on his way to an African Union summit in Nigeria. He was met in Ghana territory by Prof. John Atta Mills, then Vice President of Ghana at Paga, after which the long convoy rolled to Kumasi where Col. Gadhafi paid a courtesy call to the King of Asante, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II. The Libyan leader made whistle stops at New Jejeti, Asankare, Teacher Mante, etc to interact with traders of foodstuffs. He also held prayers in a mosque before meeting up with Ghana’s leader President Rawlings at Ofankor. The former Ghanaian leader had earlier circled the air, a helicopter that mounted surveillance on Col. Gadhafi’s convoy watched by a milling crowd.
(2006) The Libyan leader flew in an Asanteman delegation led by the King of Asante, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II from Accra to attend the celebrations marking Libya’s Green revolution. He took the delegation to the city of Al-Bayda which had freezing weather. Col. Gadhafi wore an all-white suit and rode on a horse among tribal leaders during the festive occasion. The nightly celebrations saw his astonishing appearance from underground, almost from the position a crowd stood and watched a given direction from where he was expected to arrive.
(2009) Ghana’s Vice President John Dramani Mahama flew to Tripoli, Libya to meet with Col. Muammar Gadhafi to secure the release of a Ghanaian languishing in a Libyan jail, allegedly for selling alcohol in the Islamic state which frowns on the item. John Dramani Mahama first met with the Libyan leader in a tent under the moonlight and surrounded by camels and burning firewood to warm the cold Libyan weather. This location was a barren piece of land near his fortified Aziziya presidential compound in Tripoli. That night, the leaders of the Dominican Republic and St. Vincent and the Grenadines also called on Col. Gadhafi. Giving the background to the issue which sent him to Libya, Vice President John Mahama said, he discovered the case on the internet and then informed the President, John Atta Mills who gave him the go-ahead to negotiate the release of the Ghanaian. Col. Gadhafi showed magnanimity in the whole affair, and Mahama’s delegation returned to Ghana with the freedman.
(2009) Ghana’s leader President John Atta Mills attended the African Union summit held in the city of Sirte, Libya. He later paid a courtesy call to Col. Gadhafi whose location was on the far outskirts of the city. Gadhafi was seated in a small tent and took handshakes from the visiting delegations. When he saw Captain Kojo Tsikata, Gadhafi rose to his feet to hug the Ghanaian freedom fighter.
(2009) The Revolutionary Leader of Libya, Gadhafi gave a fiery but provocative speech in his first attendance of the Heads of State meeting at the UN General Assembly in New York. Apparently referring to the terrorist strike on the twin towers in New York in 2001, he said if America could be taken unawares and bombed by terrorists, then Libya was safer and offered to host the UN meeting at some point in the future. His televised speech was widely watched globally. The American public was livid and nudged itself to the long-held belief Gadhafi himself fits the description he gave to adversaries of the United States who did the unthinkable on 9/11. Within 24hrs, the Libyan leader departed the United States and headed for Venezuela.
