Reunited - courtesy of the Colonel.

"In August 1994, a group of women from around Britain left England for Libya. Two of the women Ann Jousiffe and Corrinne Sirecox, were journalists who had devoted vast amounts of time and energy to organising the trip. The others were mothers of children abducted by their fathers to Libya. Children who, for varying lengths of time they had not been allowed to see.

The visit came about thanks to the tenacity of Simcox and Jousiffe, driven by a sense of outrage that so little practical help was available to the mothers, and because of the sense of compassion shown by the Libyan authorities. The womens' three week stay in Libya, where they and their children were guests of the government at a specially designed holiday village, was the topic of a television programme shown on British television last month.

Patricia Sabiha from Wigan in Lancashire, one of the seven mothers who made the trip to Libya spoke to The Middle East this week about the abduction in 1988 of her daughter Aisha. Following problems in their marriage Patricia and her Libyan husband, who was living in England at the time, decided to seperate. After several months apart when two year old Aisha was cared for solely by her mother, the couple agreed to give their marriage another chance. Part of the reconciliation plan was to take a family holiday together in Tunisia.

"On the afternoon of the day before we were due to fly home we had been to the beach. On the way back we decided to have something to eat before doing some last minute shopping for souvenirs. My husband mentioned he had to go to the bank and suggested I go back to the hotel for a shower and a rest while he was away. It wasn't the first time this had happened so I wasn't suspicious. He took Aisha with him while I went back to the hotel. I had a shower, organised some packing and lay down for a rest, It was dark when I awoke and suddenly it hit me, I knew for certain, he had taken her".

Patricia's story is not unusual. At least one of the other mothers in the group had been a victim of the Tunisian holiday abduction. However, each mother's anguish was unique. Patricia recalled the overwhelming feeling of hopelessness. "I didn't know where he had taken her, I was in a foreign country without friends or family, I didn't know what to do". Patricia contacted her husband's family in Libya but they said he was not there. Someone suggested he may have gone to Malta but hersearch there also proved fruitless. She decided to stay on in Tunisia and some weeks later discovered her husband and daughter had taken a boat from the Tunisian port of Sousse to Tripoli in Libya. "I decided to take my chances and go. There was nothing worse that could happen to me than what had already happened".

Patricia's first visit to Libya was unsuccessful, she returned home to England in confusion. "But 15 or 16 weeks later I went back to Libya to my husband's home town where I just started knocking on doors".

Patricia had approached the Foreign Office on her return to England only to be told there was nothing they could do to help. They said Britain did not have diplomatic relations with Libya and that the country was not a signatory of the Hague convention (which makes provision for the return of abducted children between countries which are signatories). They were very sympathetic but very formal and they certainly didn't give me much hope".

Hope is a commodity handed out to the mothers in less than meagre amounts by the British authorities. Deciding to take up the challenge of helping to reunite them with their children and, hopefully, encourage the beginning of an official dialogue which might lead to regular access visits and perhaps even holidays in Britain, Simcox and Jousiffe were astonished to learn that the British authorities had made no official approach to the Libyans on the matter of the abducted children. "When we approached the Libyans they were immediately sympathetic. They agreed the mothers and children had a right to see each other. The case was taken up by the Higher Committee for Children and arrangements began to be made."

The planning and organisation of the three week visit took about 18 months in all. Simcox, Jousiffe and the mothers paid their air fares while the Libyan authorities covered all other costs. The children, some of whom had been in Libya for as long as 10 years, were escorted to the holiday village by their fathers where constructive conversation between the estranged parents was actively encouraged. The aim was to set up a framework for regular access visits and perhaps, eventually, holiday visits to England.

An aim which could only be achieved with discussion and negotiation. Despite the best efforts of all those involved in the organisation however, the visit was less rewarding for some than for others.

Although five of the seven fathers arrived at the holiday village as arranged, three children failed to appear. One of them was Patricia Sabiha's daughter Aisha.

Patricia's determination to locate Aisha following her abduction in 1988 did pay off. Eventually she located her husband's family who welcomed her and she was allowed to see her daughter. Over the years she has been able to establish a pattern of access which allows her to see her growing daughter twice a year. "Our relationship is familiar and warm. She doesn't call me mummy anymore which I find upsetting but her grandparents are more like parents to her now, I have to accept that". The fact that Patricia has fairly regular access to her daughter albeit under the constant supervision of her ex-husband's family made her non-appearance at the holiday village somewhat surprising. Patricia doesn't know why her husband elected not to bring Aisha to join her and no amount of telephone calls to her ex-husband's home were able to provide an answer. Clearly, the Libyan authorities did their best but as a Higher Committee for Children official noted on the television programme of the visit: "I cannot take weapons and force these men to bring their children here".

The Libyans took a bold step in aiding the British mothers meet up with their children and one which other regimes may now consider emulating. There have been allegations that the whole affair was nothing more than a public relations excercise for the visiting television cameras, a stunt designed to boost Libya's tarnished image in the United Kingdom. However, as Ann Jousiffe confirms, the visit was going ahead with the full backing of the Libyans long before the movie makers became involved.

However, it is clear the situation that currently exists is woefully inadequate. A child abducted to a country which is not a signatory of either the Hague convention or the European convention, charters which make provision for a legal framework of return, cannot be reclaimed by his or her legal guardian. As Simcox and Jousiffe observed, what is needed is an international infrastructure. "All the arguments can be stripped down to one basic question: Is it right or wrong for a child to be snatched out of one culture and plunged into another? If all parties agree that it is clearly wrong for the welfare of the child we have the basis for an international agreement".

And it is not just the mothers and the children who suffer from the lack of such an agreement. During the visit of the British mothers to Libya a number of Libyan fathers who are estranged from their children in Britain petitioned the organisers to take up their case. An international agreement setting out the rights of both parents and, taking into account, the rights and feelings of the child would establish a framework within which all nations could work. The desperate need for such an agreement has been apparent for many years and is certain to intensify as intercultural marriages increase. The Libyan visit was a huge breakthrough and a great achievement but such matters should not be left in the hands of individuals, however well meaning and professional. It is high time other governments followed the Libyan initiative.