Prime Minister Tony Blair plans landmark talks with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi in recognition of Tripoli’s decision to renounce weapons of mass destruction, Britain said on Tuesday.
Separately, U.S. officials confirmed that Washington has re-established a diplomatic presence in the Libyan capital.
An encounter between Blair and Gadhafi would mark a further step in Libya’s reintegration into the international community following its surprise pledge in December to abandon plans to develop atomic and other mass destruction weapons.
“We are hoping very much that a visit can be arranged as soon as convenient but no date has yet been fixed,” Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said.
He was speaking at a news conference with his Libyan counterpart Mohamed Abderrhmane Chalgam, who earlier met Blair on the first visit by a Libyan foreign minister since 1969 when Gadhafi took power in a bloodless coup.
Talks between Blair and Gadhafi would set the seal on Libya’s reintegration, though Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi became the first Western leader to meet Gadhafi since his weapons pledge on a visit to Tripoli on Tuesday.
It was not clear whether a meeting between Blair and Ghadhafi would also take place on Libyan soil.
Straw said “good progress” was being made with Libya on implementing its Dec. 19 agreement to dismantle its weapons programs and Chalgam said his country was cooperating fully with international inspectors.
“Regarding programs of weapons of mass destruction, we are the ones who took the initiative in this matter,” Chalgam said, according to a translator.
U.S. presence
Libya has long been listed by the United States as a sponsor of terrorism, and suffered United Nations sanctions until last year for the 1988 bombing of an airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people.
But London and Washington have been moving rapidly to bring Tripoli back in from the cold in past months.
Last year, Libya paid $2.7 billion in compensation for Lockerbie victims.
The United States has not moved as quickly as Britain in improving relations with the Gadhafi government, although it, too, appears to be making efforts to mend ties, according to officials from both countries.
“Yes, Americans came to Libya to work inside the Belgian embassy in the U.S. interests section in Libya and Libyans will go to America to work in the Libyan interests section there,” Libyan Foreign Minister Mohamed Abderrhmane Chalgam told a news conference in London.
A State Department official confirmed that a diplomat had returned to the Libyan capital. “We presently have one U.S. diplomat in Tripoli to assist the U.S. WMD (weapons of mass destruction) experts,” the official told Reuters. “This is the first time we have someone there.”
Unresolved chapter
Straw, for his part, said the two countries would also “enhance” their efforts to resolve the case of the 1984 killing of British policewoman Yvonne Fletcher, who was shot outside the Libyan embassy in London during a protest.
Gunfire appeared to come from the embassy but Libya has failed to cooperate fully with the inquiry, according to UK officials.
Britain and Libya would also work on tackling terrorism and on helping Tripoli implement economic reforms, Straw said.
The British government played a key diplomatic role in securing December’s weapons agreement, which has given a huge boost to Libya’s efforts to end its international isolation.
