|
Italy: Gaddafi condemns terrorism during Rome visit
[ADN Kronos] Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on Thursday condemned terrorism while raising questions about what provoked such violence. In a controversial address to Italian senate leaders during his historic visit to Rome, Gaddafi also said his country had renounced the construction of chemical and nuclear weapons."We are against all acts of terrorism. We strongly condemn it but we should ask ourselves what are the reasons that provoke it," Gaddafi said. "We must talk about it even with the devil if that delivers a solution." Referring to bombing raids ordered by the late US president, Ronald Reagan, that killed 15 people in 1986, Gaddafi said: "Wasn't it an act of terrorism in 1986 when they tried to kill me and my children? What is the difference with (Al-Qaeda leader) Bin Laden? "It's like this: Bin Laden did not have a state, while the United States was a state. The truth is they should eliminate their arrogance: we are all created equal by god on the earth and cannot be dominated by one hegemonous state." Libya was blamed for the Lockerbie plane bombing over Scotland which claimed the lives of 270 people in 1988. Two Libyans suspected of organising the incident were handed over in 1999 for trial in The Hague under Scottish law and one of the suspects was found guilty of the crime. Gaddafi was welcomed on Thursday by the president of the Italian senate, Renato Schifani, who hailed it as an "historic meeting" to create "a bridge to the future" across the Mediterranean. Meanwhile, hundreds of people demonstrated in a Rome square to draw attention to what they claimed was Libya's poor human rights record. Prime minister Silvio Berlusconi personally welcomed Gaddafi on Wednesday on a trip widely considered an opportunity to end a painful chapter in the two countries' past. The Libyan leader praised Italy's efforts and its commitment to pay 5 billion dollars in reparations. "Italy is the only former colonial state today, the only state, that we cannot reprimand any more," Gaddafi said at a media conference where he spoke about crimes from the colonial era. The visit by Gaddafi, his first to Italy since taking power in a 1969 coup, is one of the few he has made since economic sanctions were lifted when Libya vowed to stop sponsoring terrorism. Libya supplies a quarter of Italy's oil and is a source of capital for Italian companies suffering from the global financial crisis. But to the embarrassment of his Italian hosts, Gaddafi arrived with a picture of a Libyan resistance hero Omar Al-Mukhtar pinned to his chest in a provocative reminder of Italy's past. Gaddafi also invited Al-Mukhtar's son, now an elderly man who had to be helped off the plane by a bevy of security men. Gaddafi has repeatedly lambasted Italy over its 1911-43 colonial rule, but the two nations have long maintained close business ties. Posted by: Fred 2009-06-12 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=271775 |