Libya says Gaddafi will mediate in soccer dispute
Libya's leader Muammar Gaddafi speaks at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) food security summit in Rome November 16, 2009.
Credit: Reuters/Filippo Monteforte/Pool
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has accepted an Arab League request to calm tension between Egypt and Algeria sparked by their soccer World Cup play-off matches, Libyan state media reported Tuesday.
Egypt and Algeria have each accused the other of failing to protect their citizens and property from attacks by rival football fans. Cairo withdrew its ambassador to Algiers last week and Algeria has demanded an explanation from Cairo.
Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa called Gaddafi on Monday and asked him to intervene in his role as chairman of the African Union and drawing on "the high, distinguished position that the leader enjoys," Libya's JANA news agency reported.
"The Leader of the Revolution, Chairman of the African Union, will work to repair the situation that relations between the two brotherly countries Egypt and Algeria were subjected to..." it said.
Libya has borders with both Algeria and Egypt.
Egyptian media has said Algerian fans assaulted Egyptians after their team won a tie-breaker match in Sudan to qualify for the World Cup finals in South Africa next year.
Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak said Saturday that Egypt would not allow its citizens abroad to be humiliated.
Algerian officials have alleged that their supporters were attacked in Cairo after a match four days earlier and accused Egypt of failing to provide adequate security.
(Reporting by Salah Sarrar; Writing by Tom Pfeiffer; Editing by Victoria Main)
