Libya Says Would Welcome Normal Ties With U.S.
By Andrew Hammond
CAIRO (Reuters) April 2 - A senior Libyan official said on Sunday that his country would welcome normal ties with the United States, long viewed by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi as an arch-foe.
Ali Triki, Libya's secretary for African unity, told reporters on the sidelines of an Africa-Europe meeting in Cairo that last month's visit to Tripoli by U.S. officials was a welcome step.
The delegation, on the first official trip since the United States broke off relations in 1981, had assessed whether Libya was safe for U.S. visitors, now banned from travel there.
``We will continue to have contact and if they (the Americans) are ready to normalize, we are ready, and for the interests of all countries,' Triki said.
``We have expressed that, our leader has expressed that. We welcome the normalization between the two countries.'
Gaddafi told Arab News Network television on Thursday that the Americans, who list Libya among countries that sponsor terrorism, had ``returned to their senses' after realizing they were missing chances to do business in Libya.
``There's always a mutual interest between us and any other country, including America, provided that they respect us. We will gain from the relationship with America, of course, because of their economic strength,' the Libyan leader said.
``Of course it was hard fighting America. We didn't want to do it. It was America that started the conflict. That's what happened. But now, with God's guidance, they have returned to their senses. They have realized that they have lost a lot of business opportunities,' he declared.
Opportunity For Gaddafi
Gaddafi is due to attend the first Africa-Europe summit opening in Cairo on Monday, offering a chance to meet European Union leaders reluctant to invite him to their capitals.
EU officials had visited Libya last week to consider whether Tripoli qualified for full membership in the Euro-Mediterranean group that promotes trade, economic ties and development.
Earlier this year Libya, which enjoys observer status in some group meetings, accepted conditions such as commitments to human rights, democracy, regional stability and free trade.
But it said that Israel and the Palestinian Authority should be excluded until there was a just peace in the Middle East.
EU officials said this was unacceptable.
A British official ruled out any prospect of a meeting between Foreign Secretary Robin Cook and Gaddafi in Cairo or elsewhere until Libya shifts its position on Israel.
The United Nations suspended sanctions on Libya almost a year ago after it handed over for trial in the Netherlands two men indicted for the 1988 bombing of a PanAm airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, in which 270 people were killed.
Britain, Washington's closest European ally, subsequently restored full diplomatic relations with Tripoli after it agreed to pay compensation for the killing of a British police officer by gunfire from the Libyan mission in London in 1984.
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