Rice in historic trip to one-time enemy Libya

TOP US diplomat Condoleezza Rice will make a landmark trip to Libya this week, the first by a US secretary of state in more than half a century.

Her trip is a tangible sign of warming US-Libya relations, which first began to thaw when Tripoli gave up its weapons of mass destruction program in 2003.

“It is a historic stop,” said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack. “It certainly does mark a new chapter in US-Libya relations.”

Rice, who is expected to meet Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on her September 4-7 trip, also will visit Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco and stop over in Lisbon, Portugal, before returning to Washington on Sunday.

Former US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles was the last top US diplomat to visit Tripoli in May 1953.

McCormack said the decision to visit Libya was also “tangible evidence” the United States did not harbour permanent enemies and served as an example to nations such as Iran.

Rice’s trip to Libya follows the signing of a deal last month between the two countries to establish a humanitarian fund to resolve compensation cases involving victims of US and Libyan bombings.

US victims covered include those who died in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people, and the 1986 attack on a Berlin disco that killed three and wounded 229.

It also covers Libyans killed in 1986 when US planes bombed Tripoli and Benghazi. Forty died.

Meanwhile, Italy has agreed it will not be used as a base for any attack on Libya in a deal to deepen ties between the countries.

Under the weekend deal, Italy agreed to pay $5 billion to compensate Libya for misdeeds during its 1911-1943 colonial rule.

In return, Libya will grant Italy privileges in oil, gas and other investments.