Massimo Bo Carrelly and Luca Michiletta recently published a book titled "Giulio Andreotti and Muammar Gaddafi," which includes documents from the archive of former Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, a prominent Italian politician over four decades. Since the establishment of the Italian Republic after World War II and the departure of the monarchy, he was one of the leading figures in the Christian Democratic Party, which dominated the political scene in Italy. Andreotti held five ministerial posts and managed thirty governmental portfolios. He was a devout Christian, an intellectual, and an encyclopedic writer, known for his quick wit and sharp comments. He faced numerous allegations, including links to the Mafia, but emerged innocent and more resilient, continuing his political prominence. In his last years, he was appointed a lifelong member of the Senate. He served as Italy's Foreign Minister in the early 1980s when the Middle East was experiencing wars, tensions, and terrorist incidents. Andreotti paid great attention to the Mediterranean region and adopted a conciliatory policy among all parties. He was early in establishing Italian-Libyan relations. Following the Libyan Revolution's decision to expel the Italian community from Libya, voices in Rome called for compensation for those expelled, with some right-wing Italians demanding violent actions against Libya. Christian Democratic Party leader Aldo Moro and Giulio Andreotti strongly opposed this direction, and the Italian government provided aid to the expatriates.
The book includes minutes from meetings between Andreotti and Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, correspondence between them, and Andreotti’s meetings with Libyan ministers and ambassadors in Rome, as well as various meetings with Colonel Abdul Salam Jalloud, who handled Italian-Libyan relations for many years. Libyan-American relations were marked by continuous tensions, escalating to military confrontations, with the Italian politician present amidst this political and military clash. He tirelessly attempted to mend the rift between the two sides, seeing normalization of relations between the United States and Libya as a means to bolster stability and cooperation in the Mediterranean region.
I had a close and friendly relationship with this Italian politician, dating back to my time as an ambassador in Rome and continuing when I served as Libya's Minister of Foreign Affairs. A few days after my arrival, he invited me to the ancient Caracalla Theatre in Rome with his daughter and my wife. The cultured and historian minister Andreotti spoke about Caracalla, the Libyan son of the great Roman emperor from the ancient city of Lepcis Magna. The global Italian soprano Luciano Pavarotti performed there. This moment was a historical political handshake, carrying a message rich with meaning.
During the 1980s, under President Ronald Reagan, U.S.-Libyan relations were marked by unprecedented hostility that escalated to military confrontations. The first conflict occurred in the Gulf of Sidra in March 1986, peaking with the U.S. military attack on Tripoli and Benghazi in April 1986, which targeted Gaddafi's home in Bab al-Azizia. Andreotti, when he was Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, made persistent efforts to reconcile viewpoints between the two countries and normalize relations. The book presents minutes from a meeting between Gaddafi and Andreotti, focusing on Libyan-American relations, bilateral Italian-Libyan relations, and the Palestinian issue. Gaddafi confirmed he had no objection to establishing normal relations between Libya and the U.S. but rejected being a subordinate or pawn of America. The book also recounts Andreotti’s meeting with President Reagan, discussing Libyan-American relations, but Reagan was harshly critical of Gaddafi. When Andreotti presented Reagan with an English translation of Gaddafi's Green Book, Reagan declined to accept it, sarcastically remarking, "Even Hitler wrote a book." Americans viewed Andreotti as sympathetic to Libya and the Arab cause.
Andreotti tirelessly sought to open a dialogue between the two parties to prevent confrontations that could lead to tension and instability in the Mediterranean region, but his efforts were unsuccessful. On April 5, 1986, an explosion occurred at the La Belle nightclub in Berlin, injuring several American soldiers, and the U.S. quickly accused Libya. The American ambassador to the Vatican, Wilson, visited me at my residence in Rome, having a strong personal bond with President Reagan. His visit was arranged by Italian Foreign Minister Andreotti. We discussed the possibility of a meeting between the foreign ministers of Libya and the U.S. to reconcile their perspectives, but that did not come to fruition, and America began preparing for airstrikes on Tripoli and Benghazi.