/ 9 January 2000

GADDAFI BEATS MANDELA FOR AFRICAN OF YEAR

LISTENERS of the pan-African radio station Africa No 1 have voted Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi the most notable African of 1999, the station announced on Saturday.

He beat out former South African president Nelson Mandela. The station said 35 million listeners voted for either Gaddafi or Mandela, but did not specify how big the gap was between the two. The votes were for their roles in “the defence and affirmation of Africa’s interests” and its relations with the rest of the world. In 1998 the winner was Democratic Republic of Congo President Laurent Kabila.