By DPA,
Tripoli/Washington : US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi formally ended a half century of hostility as Washington’s chief diplomat became the highest ranking US official to visit Tripoli since 1957.
The two officials discussed their common fight against terrorism and laid the basis for cultural and trade ties during their historic meeting Friday.
Symbolic of the drastic change in relations, Rice met Gaddafi in a government compound in central Tripoli that was bombed by the US in 1986 and killed dozens of people, including Gaddafi’s adopted daughter.
US and Libyan relations began warming in 2003 when Gaddafi agreed to give up weapons of mass destruction programmes and denounce terrorism.
The US subsequently ended sanctions, removed oil-rich Libya from its terrorist blacklist and re-established diplomatic relations.
Rice said her discussions with Gaddafi were “fruitful … wide-ranging” and “positive”.
Rice, who arrived in Libya after a brief visit to Portugal, said she had brought up human rights cases with Gaddafi “in a respectful manner” but did not confirm discussion of the case of political activist Fathi al-Jahmi, 66, who has been detained without trial since 2004 and is reported to be in poor health.
“I’ve emphasised during my stay here … that it is important for us to maintain an open dialogue, including on issues of human rights,” according to a transcript of Rice’s remarks released in Washington late Friday.
Gaddafi greeted Rice wearing a white Libyan robe decorated with a brooch in the shape of Africa, according to photographers who left the hall shortly after the meeting.
There was no handshake between the two. As Rice entered the room, Gaddafi raised a hand to his chest in a traditional gesture of welcome.
Rice said she and Gaddafi also found common cause on many themes including issues in Africa and in the Maghreb.
She said they had laid the basis for a trade agreement that would allow “the improvement of the climate for investment” – an issue important to US investors anxious to start putting money into Libya.
The two countries would soon sign an agreement on educational and cultural exchanges to allow more Libyan students to come to the US and Americans to go to Libya, Rice said.
Rice noted that her meeting with Gaddafi marked a “new phase” in relations after the “hard work of a lot of people”.
Rice said she looked forward to “the Libyan people and the American people getting to know each other better”.
The US has already established a diplomatic presence in Libya, but has not yet named an ambassador – a move Rice indicated could go forth once the settlement of claims for Libyan-backed terrorist attacks is implemented.
“This has been of concern to our Congress, and I look forward to the implementation of that agreement,” she said.
The groundwork for Rice’s visit was finalised last month, when Libya agreed to provide hundreds of millions of dollars into a fund to compensate the families of those who died in the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland, and the two US soldiers killed in the 1986 bombing of a Berlin disco.
The US expects the money will be transferred to the fund soon, the US State Department said earlier this week.
The US decision to restore ties has angered families of the Pan Am victims who still regard Gaddafi as a murderer who should not benefit from positive relations with Washington.
Earlier in the day, Rice met her Libyan counterpart Abdul Rahman Shalgam, who said he and Rice had tackled the issues of economic cooperation, oil, Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, US-Syrian relations and Syria’s role in the Arab world, according to the official JANA news agency.
The last visit by a major US official was that of then vice president Richard Nixon in 1957.
Rice heads to Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco after departing from Libya.