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Blair Makes Historic Visit to Libya
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1 hour, 12 minutes ago
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By ED JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer
TRIPOLI, Libya - British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites), after a historic meeting with Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi, said the former North African pariah state could become an important partner in the war on terror as it fulfills a pledge to scrap weapons of mass destruction.
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Blair also offered military links, saying he would appoint a British general as defense coordinator for Tripoli "that will offer Libya a chance of a new military relationship with the UK." Blair would provide no other details.
Blair praised Gadhafi's progress in dismantling chemical, nuclear and biological programs under a December plan negotiated by the United States and Britain and viewed as a strong signal to the rest of the Arab world of the need for moderation.
"Libya's voluntary and open implementation of the decision ... gives us real hope we can build a new relationship with it for the modern world," Blair said.
"I was particularly struck by Colonel Gadhafi's ... recognition that Libya's own future is best secured by a new relationship with the outside world and of a common cause ... in the fight against al-Qaida extremism and terrorism."
Blair met with Gadhafi for 90 minutes, becoming the first British leader to sit down with the Libyan boss since he seized power in 1969. The session marked a major step in Libya's return to the mainstream international community.
Relations with Britain hit bottom after Libya was implicated in the bombing of a Pam Am jetliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 270 people in 1988.
The new opening is laden with economic and security benefits to both sides.
Blair said that BAE Systems, a major British defense manufacturer, would announce a major deal in Libya shortly.
Royal Dutch/Shell Group said Thursday it has signed a preliminary agreement with Libya to develop gas resources. A Blair spokesman said the deal was worth $200 million and potentially as much as $1 billion.
Blair aides also said Britain would, in time, push for the European Union (news - web sites) arms embargo to be lifted. Libyan officers may be invited to train in Britain, as Gadhafi himself did as a junior army officer in 1966.
Some in Britain have criticized the country's strengthening renewal of links with the state long considered an outlaw. But Blair said countries that cooperate with the international community should be welcomed back into the fold.
Britain has a history of grievances with Gadhafi, who supplied shiploads of weapons to the Irish Republican Army (news - web sites) in the 1980s.
Britain broke off diplomatic relations with Libya in 1984 after British policewoman Yvonne Fletcher was killed by a shot fired from a window of the Libyan embassy, or "people's bureau," in London.
The two countries restored diplomatic relations in 1999 after Libya accepted responsibility for Fletcher's shooting, apologized and agreed to pay her family compensation.
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Thursday that British detectives would visit Libya on April 3 as part of the investigation into Fletcher's death. No one has yet been charged with her killing.
Gadhafi's government also took responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing (news - web sites) and agreed to compensate relatives of the victims, a move that resulted in the lifting of U.N. sanctions against Libya.
Libya's relations with the United States also have improved. In the highest-level meeting in decades, a U.S. envoy earlier this week gave Gadhafi a letter from President Bush (news - web sites) commending Libya's progress in eliminating weapons of mass destruction.
However, Washington remains more skeptical than London about Libya's progress. U.S. officials say Libya must further improve its human rights record and end support for terrorism before Washington restores diplomatic relations and removes wide-ranging sanctions.
Gadhafi and Blair met in a tent in the desert, a herd of camels nearby. The two leaders sat on low chairs, chatting through an interpreter. The tent was hung with green and yellow tapestries of camels and palm trees.
"It is good to be here at last after so many months," Blair said.
Gadhafi responded initially in Arabic, then said in English: "You did a lot of fighting on this issue and seem exhausted."
Britain has taken the diplomatic lead in ending Libya's international isolation.
"I think it is a very important visit," said Libya's foreign minister, Abdel-Rahman Shalqam. "Libya and Britain play a very important role in this region of North Africa and the African continent. We have the same obligations. We are going to exchange our views and analyses together."
Shalqam said Libya warned of the dangers of al-Qaida in the 1980s and 1990s "when Europe and even America were supporting these people."
"For us, they are the real obstacle against our progress. They are against our security. They are against women. They are against the new culture. They are against political moderation, against any change in the region," he said.
