E/CN.4/2001/21 page 7 squabble about a football match - the king of sports - that degenerated into a pitched battle between young Libyans and Nigerians at the beginning of September and spread to all Blacks living in Libya a few weeks later.” 7. In its issue of 24 October to 1 November 2000, the Jeune Afrique weekly also gives as the cause of the “xenophobic explosion” the “rape of a young Libyan girl”, or “the murder by tactless African tenants of their landlord”. 8. Colonel Ghadaffi, eulogizing African unity and attempting to pour oil on troubled waters, stated that “we should not lay ourselves open to the enemies of our cause (African union) who are taking advantage of tragic events to divide us (…). The September rioters will be judged”. However, an OAU mission of inquiry headed by Emile Derlin Zinssou, the former President of Benin, accompanied by a dozen journalists, was confined to a hotel from 18 to 20 November, their only link with the outside world being a television set broadcasting only in Arabic and a telephone which could not be used to make international calls (Jeune Afrique l’intelligent of 26 November to 4 December). 9. While drafting this report in Geneva, the Special Rapporteur had a working meeting on 19 December with the Libyan chargé d’affaires attached to the United Nations, who happens to be the representative of Libya who reacted in the General Assembly to the reference made to the events described above. She confirmed that the Africans sent back to their countries were criminals but that there had been 362 of them. She affirmed that the incidents that took place in Libya were not the exception; that brawls sometimes broke out between Africans and Libyans as well as between Libyans themselves; and that the incident in question reflected the reaction of a traditionalist society that was disgusted by the immoral behaviour of immigrants taking various forms (trafficking in alcohol, drugs and counterfeit money, as well as rape and procurement). She added that the reaction of the Government and that of the population had targeted certain African outlaws and was not xenophobic or racist in nature, since Africans were still living in Libya. Moreover, she pointed out that half of Libya’s population was Black. She promised to transmit to the Special Rapporteur the list of criminals who had been arrested and sent home or who were being tried, together with the charges brought against them. The Special Rapporteur was informed of the measures taken by the Government: (a) creation of a committee to look into the events that had taken place and to study all manifestations of xenophobia; (b) meeting between members of the Government and ambassadors accredited to Tripoli; (c) establishment of a joint committee, under the auspices of the Ministers of African Unity, comprising the Minister of Justice and OAU representatives; (d) undocumented immigrants were given six months to regularize their situation. 10. The promised documents had not been received at the time this report was finalized. The Special Rapporteur was appreciative of the atmosphere that prevailed during the meeting and will pursue the dialogue with the Libyan authorities, whom he urged strongly to take appropriate measures to prevent the recurrence of the tragic events of September 2000 in the interest of peace and the incipient African union. 11. During his stay in New York the Special Rapporteur also participated, on 24 October 2000, together with Mrs. Mary Robinson, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, in a ceremony at which a petition was presented by a number of American