US delegation makes landmark Libya visit

A US congressional delegation flew into Tripoli today aboard a US Navy plane, saying it was the first plane flying an American flag to land in Tripoli since Colonel Moammar Gaddafi took power in 1969.

“I’m here to reinforce the positive steps that have been taken by the leader of Libya,” said Curt Weldon, a Republican from Pennsylvania.

Led by Weldon, the bipartisan delegation arrived as US and British experts were preparing to start dismantling Libya’s weapons of mass destruction programmes with Gaddafi’s blessing.

The delegation was expected to meet with Gaddafi before departing on Monday for visits to Afghanistan and Iraq.

Their visit comes on the heels of another American lawmaker’s arrival in landmark visits likely to take the Americans on a tour of a Libyan weapons facility. Representative Tom Lantos, a California Democrat, arrived on Saturday in the first visit by an elected US official in more than 38 years.

Weldon, a senior member of the House armed services committee, said earlier that the delegation also would visit a university, the Libyan legislative body and ”probably” a weapons of mass destruction site.

Though Washington remains wary of Gaddafi’s regime, the Libyan leader has sought in recent years to end the international isolation that has surrounded his desert nation of only five million people.

Libya has endured two decades of US economic sanctions, and Gaddafi’s recent decision to rid his country of weapons of mass destruction could lead to improved economic relations with Libya and the deletion of Libya from the US State Departments list of seven countries branded as sponsors of terrorism.