Mr Ibrahim Omar, Palestinian Ambassador in Ghana, has pointed out that Osama Bin Laden, the Saudi-born dissident, who is the prime suspect for the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, has never been a friend of the Palestinians' fight for statehood.

"Palestinians are very uncomfortable with the manner Osama bin Laden, after his confrontation with America, will now want to make the issue of the struggles of the Palestinian people for statehood as a focus of his confrontation with the United States of America," Mr Omar, who is also the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps in Ghana, said.

A statement issued on Monday by the Information and Publication Department of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) said the Ambassador made the remarks during a courtesy call on the Executive Committee members of the TUC in Accra at the weekend.

A three-member team led by Mr Kwasi Adu-Amankwah, Secretary-General of TUC, received the Ambassador.

Mr Omar explained that throughout the period that bin Laden claimed to have decided to confront America over her world policies, the issue of Palestine had never been of concern to him. Neither did it feature in his calculations.

"It is for this reason that Palestinians are amused and surprised at the listing of the Palestinian issue as of importance to bin Laden and his associates since September 11 events in the United States."

Mr Omar, therefore, called on bin Laden to leave the Palestinians alone to wage their struggle for nationhood and not to draw them into arenas that would compound their current plight.

The US is leading an attack on Afghanistan, the adopted home of bin Laden. The statement said Mr Omar and Mr Adu-Amankwah recognised the natural right of every human being to have a state and urged governments and civil society organisations to pressure Israel to end the brute force it was applying to the issue and return to the negotiating table.

Mr Adu-Amankwah gave assurance to the Ambassador that the TUC in collaboration with the International Confederation of Free Trades Unions (ICFTU) would continue to bring the PLO issue to the public domain until it was peacefully resolved.