Pat Dollard | Young Americans

September 5, 2008

LISBON (AFP) — US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday hailed the West’s reconciliation with Libya ahead of a landmark meeting with its leader Moamer Kadhafi but also highlighted the “suffering” caused by the prolonged standoff.

Rice was heading to Tripoli later Friday for the first visit in 55 years by a US secretary of state.

Eager to show Iran and North Korea that they could benefit from a rapprochement with the West, Rice will use the visit to send a clear message of US approval for Libya’s commitment to abandon nuclear, biological and chemical weapons programmes, diplomats said.

The visit marks the full renewal of relations with Libya, which were suspended in 1981, when the United States put Kadhafi’s government on its list of state sponsors of terrorism.

“It is an historic moment and it is one that has come after a lot of difficulty and the suffering of many people that will never be forgotten or assuaged, Americans in particular for whom I am very concerned,” Rice said in Lisbon.

Libya was long on a US terrorism list and was forced deep into isolation after the bombing of a US airliner by Libyan agents over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988.

“It is also the case that this came out of the historic decision that Libya made to give up its weapons of mass destruction and to renounce terrorism, the important role that Libya can play and does play in the Maghreb, in the African Union,” Rice said.

She will hold talks with Libya’s Foreign Minister Abdelrahman Mohammed Shalgam before joining an Iftar meal — marking the end of the day’s Ramadan fast — with Kadhafi.

“We will discuss of course issues like Sudan, where Libya plays an important role,” Rice said. Conflict in Chad could also be raised.

The last US secretary of state to visit Libya was John Foster Dulles, who met with the country;s then ruler, King Idris Senussi, in 1953.

Kadhafi announced in December 2003 that his country was renouncing weapons of mass destruction and a nuclear programme following secret talks with the United States and Britain.

He has hailed the end of his regime’s long estrangement from the United States. “The whole business of the conflict between Libya and the United States has been closed once and for all,” Kadhafi said this week in a speech.

“There will be no more wars, raids or acts of terrorism,” said Kadhafi, whose support for militant groups in the 1980s prompted US President Ronald Reagan to describe him as a “mad dog.”

But Kadhafi also stressed that Libya was not desperate for US friendship. “All we want is to be left alone,” he said.

Rice’s visit comes less than a month after the two governments reached an agreement on a plan to compensate US victims of Libyan attacks and Libyan victims of US reprisals.

The deal focused on the families of the 270 victims of the Lockerbie bombing — the deadliest attack blamed on Kadhafi’s regime.

But it also covered victims of US air strikes on Tripoli and Benghazi on April 16, 1986, in which 41 people were killed, including an adopted daughter of Kadhafi.

The compensation accord, signed August 14, was one of the final pieces of the diplomatic puzzle allowing the full normalisation of relations.

Rice also plans to raise the issue of human rights with Kadhafi, including the case of dissident Fathi al-Jahmi, who has been held since 2004 for criticising the government.

“I also understand from those who have been there that Libya is a place that is changing and I want to discuss how that change is taking place because a more open Libya, a Libya that is itself changing will be also good for Libya and for the international community,” Rice said.

The secretary of state will leave during the night for Tunisia, the next stop on the tour which also includes Algeria and Morocco.