Cyrene, Libya – Libyan leader Moammar Khadafy’s son unveiled an ambitious plan Monday to protect ancient Greek ruins, conserve the country’s pristine Mediterranean coastline and draw ecotourists to this former pariah state.
Seif al-Islam Khadafy’s plan is part of an attempt to dramatically change the image of Libya to an ecologically friendly tourist destination, at a time when the country is nearing its long-sought political goal: getting into the West’s good graces.
The younger Khadafy announced the project at a ceremony inside a 2,200-year-old Greek gymnasium in the ruins of the ancient city of Cyrene, among the largely untouched and unvisited antiquity sites that Libya hopes will pull in foreigners.
“Our intention is to build a complete and sustainable social, cultural, economic and environmental system in which the needs of the present allow for the needs of future generations,” Khadafy said.
Details of the plan were vague. But the intention is to make 2,046 square miles of northeastern Libya – a region known as the Green Mountain – an environmentally sustainable region, creating a national park and ecotourism opportunities while excavating and protecting the nearby ancient temples and Mediterranean coast.
The Green Mountain is a virtually unspoiled region of fertile land, gorges and Greek ruins that rival those in Greece and Turkey.
Touted as a reformer, 36-year-old Khadafy has no official government post, but many see him as the man most likely to take power in the North African country when his 65-year-old father steps down or dies.
After spending decades as the United States’ sworn enemy, Libya is embarking on a political and economic change of heart.
Its rogue state status abruptly changed in 2003 when U.N. sanctions imposed 11 years earlier were lifted after the elder Khadafy said he was dismantling his nuclear-weapons program.
