Blair Plans Meeting With Qaddafi

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, February 12, 2004

Blair Plans Meeting With Qaddafi

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British Prime Minister Tony Blair plans to meet Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi "as soon as convenient," Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Tuesday. The announcement came following the first formal visit here by a Libyan foreign minister since 1969.

The foreign minister, Muhammad Abdul Rahman Shalgham, met Mr. Blair and Mr. Straw in private talks that centered on the "good progress" Mr. Straw said had been made since Colonel Qaddafi announced on Dec. 19 that he was ridding his country of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs.

No weapons-related materials have been destroyed, but surveys are under way with assistance from United States and British intelligence officials and experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague, Western officials said.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy on Tuesday became the first Western leader to travel to Tripoli since Colonel Qaddafi's declaration. Italy's relations with Libya are close and complicated. Under Mussolini, Italy imposed a brutal and repressive administration in Libya.

Mr. Blair and President Bush heralded Colonel Qaddafi's turnaround as a diplomatic success that resulted from the military campaign in Iraq. But Libyan and Western officials in Tripoli link it also to disastrous economic policies that have fueled domestic discontent within Libya.

Mr. Bush has allowed Mr. Blair to take the lead in engaging directly with the Libyans, an indication of how sensitive White House political advisers remain about the negative imagery of meeting with Libyan officials given Colonel Qaddafi's past association with terrorism.

At a news conference, Mr. Straw said, "We are hoping very much that a visit can be arranged" between Mr. Blair and Colonel Qaddafi "as soon as convenient, but no date has yet been fixed," he said.

Source: Agencies

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