Dictator's image looms large as Gaddafi's son shows his art

In much the same way as people remember where they were when Kennedy was killed or when the World Trade Centre was attacked, liberals and peaceniks recoil at the memory of a spring morning in 1986 when news came that British bases had been used to launch air attacks on Libya.

For Saif Gaddafi, the 30-year old-son of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, bogeyman of the West for more than 20 years, the memory is as fresh as if the bombs had fallen yesterday. He and five brothers, his mother and adopted sister were in bed when American planes attacked their home in Tripoli. By the time "Operation El Dorado Canyon" was over, the sister, Hanna, two, and 30 others were dead. "It was chaos, awful," he recalled yesterday.

"My mother had heard explosions far away, because the Americans bombed a naval base 30 kilometers [20 miles] from Tripoli first. Then the noise came closer and she tried to get us all out of bed, out of our house. But it was too late. The bombs hit and there was smoke and dust and flames. When it settled, we found Hanna."

Mr Gaddafi recalled his horror as he prepared to open an exhibition of Libyan antiquities and contemporary art in a tent, of which his father would have been proud, in London's Hyde Park. Erected next to the Albert Memorial, a grand leftover from the peak of Britain's colonial powers, the exhibition is an attempt to promote Libyan culture rather than the usual demonisation of its leader.

Entitled The Desert is Not Silent, and sponsored by the Gaddafi International Charity Foundation, it features Greek, Roman and Islamic treasures as well as work by artists famed in Libya but little known abroad. There are many works by Saif Gaddafi, including three from his experience of conflict with the West. Whether they are there by dint of quality or patronage is a matter of opinion, but several are striking. One, entitled Intifada, features a clenched fist holding a rock; a second, War, depicts a sun rising over a troubled sea, painted during the Nato bombing of Kosovo and Serbia; the third, entitled The Challenge, features broken crusaders held back by an image of Colonel Gaddafi above a piece of shrapnel recovered from the rubble of the leader's bombed home.

"These are the only three political paintings in the exhibition," said Mr Gaddafi. "This is meant to be a cultural exhibition rather than a political statement. I think the relations between Libya and the West are much improved and will get better. The image that has been presented of my father and my country has been one of hostility and aggression reflecting the situation. Hopefully, this will present a new image."

Mr Gaddafi says his father, now 63, was in good health and last week celebrated the birth of his second grandchild, Mohammed. "My father is strong and sometimes stubborn. He is religious and very kind to his family and friends, and tough on his enemies," he said. "He loves to get together with his family – that is very important to him. And we sit and eat and talk together."

He will not talk in detail about the softer side of his father – if there is one – and says it is too soon to see how doting a grandfather he will become. But he confirmed that Libya still rejects Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi's conviction for the Lockerbie bombing and is pursuing the case with fresh lawyers.

Yet he says he feels a thaw in relations with Britain and the US. At one time, he was not allowed a visa for many Western countries, but in recent years he has travelled and studied widely. "We have to open up our arms to the West and we hope they will open theirs to us and put the past behind us," he said.

So what of the future? Is there a Gaddafi succession planned? "No," he said. "Not me or anyone else. There will be no succession after my father. There will be a democracy."