Throughout the Yugoslav war years, Mr Qaddafi was staunchly loyal to the then Serbian leader, Slobodan Milosevic. He even aligned himself with the Orthodox Serbs against Bosnia’s and Kosovo’s Muslims. Serb-Libyan ties remain strong. So strong, in fact, that on Tuesday Dragan Sutanovac, the Serbian minister of defence, was forced to describe as “total stupidity” reports that Serbian warplanes were bombing anti-Qaddafi protestors. As we reported earlier this year, Serbia is interested in selling arms and building armament factories and military hospitals in the region.