WORLD oan 3 s Over 100 died in the U.S. attack on Libya, including the infant daughter of its leader, j Boos Mouammar Gadhafi. Photos show bombed housing complex and child victim of the raid. U.S. terrorism marked at conference in Libya By CLAIRE DaSYLVA TRIPOLI — In the dead of night, April 14, 1986, International Year of Peace, U.S. warplanes left Great Britain to at- tack Libya and its leader Mouammar Al-Gadhafi. Their bombs destroyed many civilian targets here and in Benghazi and other Cities. They hit residential areas, includ- ing Gadhafi’s home, hospitals, mosques, handicap centres and a number of foreign embassies. The people of Libya will never forget that date. In fact, they commemorated it With an international conference spon- Sored by the Libyan Peace Committee Which drew some 500 participants from Canada, the U.S., and Great Britain. Among the Canadian participants from peace and solidarity groups were the Quebec Peace Council, Jim Steel of the Canadian . Peace Congress, and Canada’s former councillor for trade re- lations with Libya, Ian McDonnel. Dr. N. Galtiere, a Carleton University Teligion professor, reported the outrage Many Canadians felt over the U.S. aggression against Libya, and on the Canadian delegation’s behalf expressed Its solidarity with the Libyan people. _ A large American delegation drawn om an array of peace, solidarity, as well as Black, Chicano, and Native American Civil rights organizations also spoke out. Chief Bill Court, of the American In- dian Movement pledged his delegation would, ‘‘go back to the USA to struggle against U.S. terrorism.” British Labor Party MP Ron Brown, expressed solidarity with Libya, from a delegation that also included rank and file as well as leading members of the Cam- paign for Nuclear Disarmament, (though CND didn’t officially endorse the event), as well as members of the National As- sembly of Women. NAW president Elizabeth Tebbs noted how British TV at the beginning of April 1986 had reported there was no actual proof of Libyan involvement in the West Berlin discotheque bombing that the Reagan government used as the pretext to bomb Libya. Ellen Ray, co-editor of Covert Action, an American magazine dedicated to probing and exposing the subversive ac- tivities of the CIA and the U.S. intel- ligence establishment, buttressed Tebbs’ comments by recalling speculation by the mayor of West Berlin, immediately after the disco bombing that the explo- sion might be the handiwork of racists directed against Black soldiers who frequented the bar. Libyan Foreign Affairs Minister, Dr. Houdry told the conference participants of a conversation he’d had as Libyan ambassador to the United Nations in January 1981, with then Secretary of State Alexander Haig. have made steady progress. oil extraction. month. Mayor of Tripoli. An example the U.S. fears Anti-imperialist sentimént runs deep in the Libyan population since the 1969 revolution that brought Gadhafi to power. The country’s 3.5 million people Libya boasts five universities, built since the revolution, with more on demandas aresult of universal, free education and a thriving economy based on Instead of unemployment, Libya experiences a labor shortage, medical care and housing is free for most of the people. The average income is $500 (U.S.) a The Libyan Peace Committee organized a number of excursions for the Canadians including visits to a mountain-top farm, a school and dinner with the Holidry said that Haig, in response to the Libyan diplomat’s call for the establishment of better relations be- tween their two countries, on the basis of mutual respect, had answered: “‘we can- not, one way or the other.”” Since then, many facts have surfaced to show that indeed the Reagan admin- istration has done everything to under- mine relations between the two coun- tries, including CIA subversion, an eco- nomic and political boycott and a global propaganda campaign painting Libya and Gadhafi as terrorists. Coverage of the Tripoli peace confer- ence was overshadowed by the apparent suicide of Southam News correspondent Christopher Lehmann-Halen. The re- porter plunged to his death from the roof of a Tripoli hotel and the story in Canada shifted from commemorating the U.S. attack on Libya, to probing and speculat- ing about the’circumstances surrounding Lehmann-Halen’s death. The 31 year old reporter’s roommate, Terry Jabour, questioned extensively by Libyan police told the authorities Lehmann-Halen seemed depressed prior to his death. The Canadian delegation was also disrupted by the discovery that the group had been infiltrated by a number of fas- cist sympathizers, including a member of the neo-Nazi Nationalist Party of Cana- da. At the delegation’s request, they were removed from the group. 0 Canadians will attend forum By NAN McDONALD In preparation for the World Congress of Women, to be held in Moscow, June 23-27, an impres- sive world-wide grass roots underway. The World Congress will be the biggest women’s event anywhere in the world since the United Nations World Con- ference and Forum in Nairobi in 1985, The Kremlin Palace of Con- gresses will host the opening and closing Plenary Sessions. The implementation of the Forward Looking Strategies, of the United Nations Decade for Women in Nairobi, will be the common platform for discussion in the eight commissions and in- formal meetings, workshops and solidarity gatherings which will run parallel to the commissions. Photos and films will be used to document violations of women s rights before a hearing where vic- tims will give first-hand testimony and eyewitness reports about the The World Congress of Women Will look at implementation of the Nairobi decisions. a PACIFIC TRIBUNE, MAY 13, 1987 9 organizing campaign is well” adopted by the World Conference . horrors of apartheid, the brutality of zionism and imperialism in the Middle East and in Latin and Central America and other parts of the world. Since the Women’s Interna- tional Democratic Federation (WIDF) began preparatory work in June 1986, more than 30 con- sultative meetings have been held with 17 international organ- izations, such as the World Federation of Trade Unions, women of the Socialist Inter- national, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, International Federation of Fam- ily Planning, Christian Peace Conference, and many more. A main focus for delegations from the developing countries will be the United Nations Declara- tion on the Establishment of a New International Economic Or- der, adopted in 1974. Left with the heritage of colonial rule which ' plundered vast natural resources, . many states have a legacy of hunger, disease, undernourish- ment and illiteracy which con- tinues to plague the daily life of women. : _ The World Congress of Women will be taking place in the 70th year of the Great October Social- ist Revolution. Delege*zs will have an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the life of Soviet people and with the new, dynamic developments and thedeepening of socialist democracy. Women are expressing a keen interest in the experience of socialism in sol- ving the problem of women’s in- equality. : Efforts have been made to pro- vide the opportunity for women trade unionists to exchange ex- periences, and similar provisions will be available for women parliamentarians and other spe- cial interest groups. The congress is being or- ganized to meet the needs of all participants. It is their congress, they are in control and will make the decisions of what is decided. The congress is open to all who agree with the principles expres- sed in its theme: ‘‘Towards The Year 2000. Without Nuclear Weapons, For Peace, Equality and Development.” The Congress of Canadian Women in cooperation with the Ligue des Femmes du Quebec in- itiated the setting up of the Cana- dian Preparatory Committee for the World Congress of Women. Delegate applications have come in from across the country and reflect the social, political, eco- nomic and binational character of Canada. The 80 women who will make up the Canadian delegation will undoubtedly make a solid contri- bution to the deliberations and unity of the World Congress which will in turn unite the greatest numbers of women around the struggle for peace, for the rights of women and children and for ridding the world of nu- clear weapons by the year 2000. Nan McDonald is Womens Director of the Communist Party of Canada.