27/04/2004

Gaddafi arrives in Brussels for two-day visit

Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has begun his first official visit to Europe in 15 years, arriving in Brussels today for a two-day trip.

It is the Libyan leader’s first official trip outside Africa or the Middle East since 1989 and it follows Prime Minister Tony Blair’s recent trip to Libya and the United States’ easing of economic sanctions against Libya.

Tensions between Libya and the US and UK and been eased by Libya’s decision to renounce weapons of mass destruction, a move which Washington and London see as a consequence of the war in Iraq.

Colonel Gaddafi is due to meet European Commission President Romano Prodi, head of the EU’s executive arm, then lunch with European commissioners before dining in the evening with Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt.

The European Union is under pressure to lift its arms embargo on Libya, with Italy in particular pressing for the bloc to offer more help to the North African country in the fight against illegal immigration.

However, Germany is reportedly against lifting the embargo as it still wants compensation from Libya for victims of a bomb attack in a Berlin nightclub in 1986, which left three people dead and 260 other injured.

(KmcA)

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