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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 TRIPOLI 000169 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/MAG 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  2/16/2017 
TAGS: SOCI KHIV LY
SUBJECT: LIBYA'S COGNITIVE DISSONANCE:  HIV AWARENESS PROGRAMMING AND 
CONTINUING BLAME ON OUTSIDERS FOR AIDS OUTBREAK 
 
TRIPOLI 00000169  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Elizabeth Fritschle, Pol/Econ Chief, Embassy 
Tripoli, Department of State. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
 
 
¶1.  (C)   SUMMARY:  The Libyan government continues to move 
forward with its own unique form of education awareness of HIV 
and AIDs.  There is some basic level of educational programming 
in Libyan schools in conjunction with the UNDP office in Tripoli 
and the government has also held additional activities including 
a World AIDS day event in December 2006.   Given the plight of 
the Bulgarian nurses and Palestinian doctor found guilty in 
Libyan courts of deliberately injecting children with the HIV 
virus, despite conclusive scientific evidence from renowned 
international experts that the infections spread in a manner 
that precluded premeditated criminal intent, it is noteworthy 
that Libyan medical professionals are still making public 
statements claiming that the HIV outbreak in Benghazi was 
deliberate and not the result of poor hospital hygiene or other 
causes.  The Libyan press has continued over the last two weeks 
to print articles claiming that "foreign intelligence services" 
are responsible for the outbreak, most recently claiming that 
Bulgarian intelligence and Israeli intelligence were responsible 
for the "crime".  While some Libyans will privately admit that 
they know the medics did not deliberately inject the Benghazi 
children with HIV virus, most Libyans, despite their belief that 
the Libyan medical system is unsafe, reflexively blame outsiders 
for the disease outbreak.  The cognitive dissonance on HIV 
awareness makes it extremely difficult to manage public opinion 
that prevents a quick solution in the Medics case. END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (C)  After months of failed attempts to meet with managers 
of the Watassimo Foundation for Charitable Activities headed by 
Dr. Aisha Muammar Qadhafi, a government-sanctioned, quasi-NGO in 
Libya, about its work in AIDs awareness education, Embassy was 
invited to a World Aids Day held at the Tripoli General People's 
Congress Hall on December 2 that was jointly sponsored by UNDP 
and Watassimo.  Aisha Qadhafi did not attend, but was idolized 
in a slide show that depicted her in halo'ed photographs 
attending committee meetings and giving speeches. 
 
¶3.  (C)  The sparsely-attended event had about 50 "boy scouts" 
and 30 "girl guides" in the audience, along with a dozen public 
health officials and the family members of the children 
performing a skit as part of the program.   In the lobby, 
head-scarf covered women from Watassimo handed out promotional 
materials for a Quran memorization contest sponsored by Aisha 
Qadhafi, along with some basic informational materials about 
AIDS.   The General People's Congress Hall, one of the largest 
government structures in Tripoli, features a large auditorium 
that could hold several hundred people on both the main and 
upper level seating areas.  The building is decorated with two 
large murals - one is an outline of all the Arabic-speaking 
countries painted in green with the caption "All Arab Countries 
are One."  On the opposite wall is an outline of the African 
continent in black, with only the Libyan territory highlighted 
in green, along with the caption, "Africa isn't just an entity, 
it is a message of future civilization." 
 
¶4.  (C)  After a blessing from an Imam and introduction by the 
head of the Libyan Infectious Diseases Center (LIDC), Secretary 
of the General People's Committee for Health Dr. Mohamed 
Abu-Ujaylah Rashed gave an address that broadly outlined the 
scope of AIDS in a global context, but also commented in his 
remarks that children in Benghazi were deliberately infected 
with the AIDs virus.  He told the audience that there were 7023 
cases of AIDS in Libya and 6707 were Libyan citizens. 
 
¶5.  (C)  There was also a brief presentation by a man, currently 
under treatment for AIDS, who urged the crowd to accept those 
with the illness and also called for the government to create a 
special center to provide free treatment and support for all 
people with AIDs.  The man, wearing very conservative Islamic 
dress including a white robe, crocheted white skullcap, and 
facial hair worn by devout religious clerics, conveyed a sense 
of repentance for past misdeeds in his remarks. The audience 
reaction to the remarks was polite and reflective. 
 
¶6.  (C)  More than half of the program was a play enacted by 
young schoolgirls describing how viruses (using the example of 
avian influenza, not HIV) could attack the body.   The play 
explained the role of good nutrition in heath, and also the 
function of red and white blood cells in the body's immune 
 
TRIPOLI 00000169  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
system.  The schoolgirls representing white blood cells (the 
defender's of health) were dressed in copies of the white 
military uniform Colonel Qadhafi usually wears on Revolution 
Day, complete with gold-fringed epaulets just like the 
"Leader's" outfits.  In keeping with the revolutionary mindset 
of the Jamahiriya (an Arabic word that translates as "the state 
of the masses"), the play included air raid sirens when the 
system was under attack by the virus, and the girls used toy 
rifles and handguns to attack back, accompanied by background 
sound effects simulating machine-gun fire. 
 
¶7.  (C)   After the program, P/E Chief spoke with a doctor who 
lived in the U.S. for seven years and did post-graduate work in 
medicine at Tulane University.  She now runs public health 
programs at the LIDC.  Asked to confirm P/E Chief's 
understanding of the Health Secretary's remarks in Arabic, she 
said that yes, the children had been deliberately infected. 
Asked how she, as a health professional, knew the infections 
were deliberate, she said that the Libyan health authorities had 
conducted studies that proved the crime of the accused 
Bulgarians and Palestinian.    She was not aware that the Libyan 
courts had rejected expert testimony from leading AIDS 
researchers from outside Libya.  While earlier in the 
conversation, the doctor complained about Libya's abysmal state 
of public health, health education and service, when it came to 
the AIDS investigation, she insisted that Libyan doctors and 
equipment were world-class and capable of conducting a thorough 
investigation. 
 
¶8.  (C)  Similarly, the head of the Tuberculosis prevention 
program for the General People's Committee of Health, a doctor 
who lived and studied in Budapest for seven years before 
returning to Libya also said he believed the Benghazi HIV 
infections were deliberate.  When P/E Chief ran through a list 
of medical reports issued by internationally-recognized experts, 
including Libyan expatriate medical specialists, and offered 
other explanations for the outbreak, the doctor was not 
receptive to any citations of scientific studies. 
 
¶9.  (C)  Last year P/E Chief had dinner in Benghazi with a 
working-class family with one son in medical school.  Asked 
about the case and local Benghazi opinion, the future doctor 
said that "everyone" in Benghazi knew the infections were 
deliberate and that if the medics were released it was a sign 
that the government was corrupt and bowing to pressure from the 
West. 
 
¶10. (C) In late November the charge had a conversation with a 
Libyan doctor now living outside Libya but who returns from time 
to time to provide consultative services to the government.  The 
doctor gave many examples of the declining quality of the 
education available in Libya's medical schools, and cited the 
absence of quality control in the educational system.  He then 
told the charge that he had been asked to write a report about 
AIDS and its treatment, with reference to the Benghazi problem. 
At first his interlocutors had been reluctant to provide him 
requested data, and remained vague as to whether the report was 
to be read by specialists or by laymen or someone in between. 
After persistent questioning the doctor finally ascertained that 
the report was to be prepared for Muammar Qadhafi.  The doctor 
concluded that Qadhafi was intensely interested in this 
technical issue and was following the Benghazi case closely. 
The doctor made it clear to the charge that he did not believe 
the Bulgarian nurses were guilty of intentionally infecting the 
children but it was not clear how much of this conclusion was 
conveyed in the report he wrote. 
 
¶11.  (C)  COMMENT:  The disconnect between the public rhetoric 
of health policy officials and the often privately-acknowledged 
admittance that the HIV infection was not a deliberate criminal 
act by the medics reflects the deep threat felt by the 
authoritarian regime.   There are a number of factors 
influencing the government's current stance that outsiders are 
to blame for the HIV infections in Libya.  Religious, social and 
cultural stigmas make it very difficult to admit that behaviors 
or practices that contribute to the spread of HIV may exist in 
Libya.  The government also, given Benghazi perceptions that it 
receives less than a fair share of state resources, has to 
manage public opinion.  It is not willing to accept 
responsibility for the lack of basic hygiene, sanitation, 
equipment or adequately trained staff in state-run facilities. 
The government's image problems became even more tangled after 
its initial attempts to blame the outbreak on outsiders, (at one 
time claiming U.S. and Israeli intelligence services were behind 
 
TRIPOLI 00000169  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
a plot to kill Libyan children).  After 8 years of blaming 
outsiders, now the government also faces heavy criticism from 
oppositionist forces, especially conservative Islamic groups, 
who decry the government falling under the influence of western 
forces.  While some Libyan officials acknowledge privately and 
confidentially that they know the HIV outbreak was not a 
deliberate, criminal conspiracy they have not found a way to 
manage the situation in a way that protects the Libyan regime 
from damaging criticism.  The cognitive dissonance on HIV 
awareness makes it extremely difficult to manage public opinion 
that prevents a quick solution in the Medics case. 
CECIL