Gaddafi opens summit
2010-03-27 15:58
Sirte - Maverick Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, known for rambling diatribes and sharp jabs at fellow leaders, gave a restrainingly short opening speech on Saturday at the annual Arab summit but remained true to form by suggesting one of his chief guests was overweight.
Gaddafi spoke for less than 15 minutes and then gave the floor to three foreign guests, including UN chief Ban Ki-moon and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
"The Arab masses and people are fed up with words," Gaddafi said in his speech.
"They are waiting for action, not words and speeches," he said, hosting his first ever summit in the Mediterranean city of Sirte, his hometown.
He described Arab citizens as "revolutionaries who are always on the defensive," and advised his fellow leaders "to take decisions that match the expectations" of their people.
But when the emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani suggested that Arab leaders had achieved too little, Gaddafi said he didn't think his guest would do much better.
Then, taking a jab at the girth of his tall and heavy guest, he said the Qatari leader was "better than me at filling a void," before bursting out in a laugh.
Provocative statements
In September, Gaddafi defied orders at the UN General Assembly to speak for 15 minutes, and went on for more than 90 minutes.
His rambling speech tried the patience of many UN delegates and caused the literal collapse of an interpreter. Seventy-five minutes into the diatribe, the translator threw in the towel, crying "I just can't take it anymore."
Gaddafi, the longest serving Arab leader, was born in a bedouin tent in the desert near Sirte in 1942, and has a reputation of never mincing his words and of riling Western and Arabic leaders alike with provocative statements.
Thirteen heads of state answered his invitation to attend the summit which is expected to focus on a common strategy against Israel's controversial settlement policy in annexed east Jerusalem.
Among those absent are regional powerbroker King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia who was insulted by Gaddafi at last year's summit in Qatar.