Agence France-Presse,
BERLIN: Germany on Monday denied reports that its federal police and soldiers had covertly trained Libyan security forces, except in one case where a sergeant has been suspended and placed under investigation.
“As far as we know, no federal government official and no soldier in active service took part in the planning or implementation of training programmes in Libya,” government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said.
The denial came as political parties across the spectrum stepped up pressure on the government to come clear on its role in the alleged training of 120 Libyan troops between December 2005 and June 2006.
Wilhelm conceded that a private Germany security firm may have trained members of an elite corps assigned to Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi.
But he stressed that Berlin has never authorised any initiative to provide security training to Libyans, denying press reports implicating former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in the scandal.
The affair has caused an outcry, partly because of suggestions of shady dealings between Berlin and Tripoli as early as 2003 when Libya was still considered a pariah nation by the West.
“The government must place all its cards on the table,” said Wolfgang Bosbach, the deputy parliamentary leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats.
Authorities in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia confirmed Friday that eight members of the regional Special Operations Squad (SEK) elite unit have been under investigation for involvement in the illicit training scheme.
Since then, the matter has seen a flurry of media revelations, followed rapidly by official denials.
Press reports said that members of the German police began moonlighting as highly-paid instructors for the Libyan forces, with the knowledge of the German embassy in Tripoli, following a request from Kadhafi.
Bild am Sonntag said Schroeder and Kadhafi discussed the matter first during a secret meeting in Cairo in 2003 and again at an official summit the following year.
The paper said training Libyan forces was a way to repay Tripoli for its help in securing the release of three Germans who were among 21 western tourists kidnapped by extremists on the Philippine island of Jolo in 2000.
Schroeder, the foreign ministry and the foreign intelligence service, the BND, have denied the reports.
The former chancellor, who was in from office 1998 to 2005, threatened to sue newspapers for printing “lies.”
Schroeder denied meeting with Kadhafi in secret or speaking to him about training Libyan forces, saying he “certainly has no recollection” of giving such undertakings.
The regional interior ministry in North Rhine-Westphalia has said that the eight suspected SEK members had been relieved of their duties.
It said a master sergeant in the German army and a former SEK officer, who was suspected of organising the training of Libyan forces between 2005 and 2007, were also under investigation.
The sergeant was suspended in April 2006 when it became known that he was trying to recruit fellow soldiers to train Libyans, a spokesman for the defence ministry said.
Press reports have said some 30 Germans were involved and that they were paid up to 15,000 euros (23,500 dollars).
According to Der Spiegel magazine, the German private security company BDB Protection Gmbh earned 1.6 million euros training Libyan forces.
The left-leaning daily Die Tageszeitung said Monday the affair proved that Germany had two foreign policies, one official and one covert.
“This shows again that in Germany it remains possible to have a private, parallel foreign policy that escapes any form of official control.”
The matter was due to be discussed in the German parliament on Wednesday.
