German-Libyan anti-terror deal revealed

BERLIN, April 14 (UPI) -- German police may have continuously trained security forces in Libya over the past three decades.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Monday reported that Germany's federal police service BKA as early as 1979 began training Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's bodyguards, with a German officer traveling to Libya twice that year to give courses. The daily added West Germany at the time provided the training so that Gadhafi in return would convince the Palestine Liberation Organization not to give refuge to Germany's far-left terrorists, the Red Army Faction.

The report calls into question government statements that it knew nothing of the training. Germany's intelligence service BND last week said its staff learned of the training but didn't forward that information to officials, deeming it not important enough.

While some see the training as controversial because Tripoli has in the past used its security forces to strike down internal opposition, some experts, including former German Defense Minister Peter Struck, argue that it is no scandal to cooperate with Libya on anti-terrorism.

It has been confirmed that several German police officers took time out from their jobs in 2005 and 2006 to train Libyan security forces.