Gaddafi blasts big powers in long UN speech

Lybian leader praises US President ObamaGaddafi blasts big powers in long UN speech

Praise for Obama
Gaddafi praised Obama's speech in his rambling address

UNITED NATIONS (Al Arabiya, Agencies)

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, in a rambling address to the United Nations on Wednesday, accused the veto-wielding powers of the Security Council of betraying the principles of the U.N. charter while offering profuse praise for United States President Barack Obama.

The speech, that lasted amost an hour and a half, was the Lybian leader's first ever address to the U.N.

" Veto power should be annulled "
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi"

The preamble (of the charter) says all nations are equal whether they are small or big," Gaddafi said through an interpreter. He received a smattering of applause.

Reading from a copy of the U.N. charter, Gaddafi said: "The veto is against the charter, we do not accept it and we do not acknowledge it."

Clad in a copper-colored robe with an emblem of Africa pinned over his chest, the Libyan leader dropped his paperback copy of the charter on the podium several times before tossing it over his shoulder.

The United States, Britain, France, Russia and China are permanent veto wielding members of the Security Council, the most powerful body within the United Nations. Libya has a temporary council seat and will be on the 15-nation panel until the end of 2010.

"Veto power should be annulled," Gaddafi said.

"The Security Council did not provide us with security but with terror and sanctions," he told leaders gathered for the opening day of the 192-nation General Assembly.

Gaddafi, who spoke just after Obama, said the fact that "65 wars" have broken out since the U.N. was established more than 60 years ago proved its founding principles had been betrayed.

Praise for Obama

" We would be happy if Obama could stay forever as the president of America "
GaddafiGaddafi, who himself has spent 40 years in power, also welcomed Obama's speech, immediately before his, in which the new U.S. president pledged fresh engagement with the international community, after former leader George W. Bush's often rocky ties with the world.

"It was completely different for an American president," Gaddafi said of Obama's speech. "You are the beginning of a change."

But he added: "Can you guarantee that after Obama that America will be different?"

"We would be happy if Obama could stay forever as the president of America," he said in a rambling speech to the U.N. General Assembly.

Gaddafi, who styles himself as a pan-African leader, expressed pride in Obama's election as the first black U.S. president.

"This is a great thing," Gaddafi said, referring back to the U.S. past when "blacks couldn't go where whites went and couldn't be on the same bus."

Gaddafi also called for the U.N. to launch an investigation into John F. Kennedy's assassination and complained about jet lag.

Gaddafi currently chairs the African Union.