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September 5, 2008

US Secretary of State to Pay Historic Visit to Libya
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=1E0AEB0:A6F02AD83191E160DAB1D91398AA48385C6F54A6CF9DC2CA&
 
Condoleezza Rice making first visit by a US secretary of state in more
than 50 years 
The top U.S. diplomat is due to arrive in Libya Friday, for the first
visit by a U.S. secretary of state in more than 50 years. U.S. Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice (File)Condoleezza Rice is expected to meet
with Libya's leader, Moammar Gadhafi, and other key officials in the
Libyan capital, Tripoli. The State Department says Rice's trip signifies
what it calls a "new chapter" in U.S.-Libyan relations. Officials said
in a statement on the State Department website that normalizing
diplomatic relations will allow the two countries to strengthen their
commercial ties and increase cooperation in science, technology,
education, and culture. The two states froze their diplomatic relations
for decades but have been slowly renewing their ties over the past few
years. The U.S. had accused Libya of sponsoring terrorism, blaming
Tripoli for bomb attacks on a Berlin disco in 1986 and on a U.S.
airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988. The U.S. carried out air
strikes on Libya's capital and on the city of Benghazi in 1986.Relations
between the two countries started to improve in 2003 when Libya accepted
responsibility for acts of terrorism and agreed to scrap its weapons of
mass destruction program. In August, the U.S. and Libya signed a deal to
resolve conpensation claims relating to the Libyan terrorist attacks and
U.S. air strikes of the 1980s. Rice is on a tour of North Africa that
will also take her to Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.


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