Libya's Gaddafi calls EU plan an insult

Tripoli: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi said on Tuesday that an EU proposal for a union with Mediterranean states was an insult to Arabs and Africans.

"This is taking us for fools," Gaddafi said. "We do not belong to Brussels. Our Arab League is located in Cairo and the African Union is located in Addis Ababa. If they want cooperation they have to go through Cairo and Addis Ababa."

France proposed the union last year as a way of boosting ties with the European Union's southern neighbours and improving trade and security cooperation.

Gaddafi said the proposal involved failed economic projects. "They are throwing us bait to attract us to such projects. This is an insult to us Arabs and Africans," he said in Tripoli at the start of a mini-summit of five North African states and Syria.

Libya called the meeting to seek a common stance on the proposed union and discuss Israel's role. Arab governments fear that joining the union alongside Israel might imply a normalisation of their relations with the Jewish state.

"If they come with an offer based on value and principle like fighting disease or climate change we can maybe discuss this. But they come with economic offers because they consider us as hungry people," Gaddafi said.

The Tripoli meeting was attended by leaders of Syria, Algeria, Tunisia and Mauritania. Morocco's King Mohammad and Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak did not attend.