Blair flies to Libya for Gaddafi talks
British Prime Minister Tony Blair was flying into Tripoli today for controversial talks with Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.
Mr Blair said last night that he was determined to offer a “hand in partnership” to states that had renounced terrorism and weapons of mass destruction.
His visit follows Libya’s agreement in December to dismantle its WMD programme and its acceptance of responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing and the murder of British policewoman Yvonne Fletcher.
Mr Blair was expected to meet Col Gaddafi in a tent outside the Libyan capital, possibly even kissing him on the cheek as he arrived.
Critics in Britain have said Mr Blair’s visit may be premature. Tory leader Michael Howard questioned its timing after yesterday’s Madrid rail bombing memorial service.
But Mr Blair insisted last night: “Let us offer to states that want to renounce terrorism and the development of WMD our hand in partnership to achieve it, as Libya has rightly and courageously decided to do.”
But he added: “That does not mean forgetting the pain of the past, but it does mean recognising change when it happens.”
Mr Blair’s visit, during a four-day whirlwind diplomatic mission, comes after it also emerged that Shell was on the verge of signing a heads of agreement with Libya in the next few days on offshore gas exploration and British Aerospace was in “advanced negotiations” with the Gaddafi regime, according to a senior British official.
Back in Britain, confirmation of Mr Blair’s visit prompted varied reactions.
Jim Swire, of the UK Families Flight 103 campaign group – who lost his daughter in the Lockerbie bombing – said the visit would “greatly diminish the chances of a backsliding of support for terrorism, so we are greatly in favour of such a move”.
But Lockerbie councillor Marjory McQueen said: “On a purely personal basis, I have sympathy with the views of the American relatives who see it as a betrayal, but obviously the Prime Minister now feels it is time to move on, although it appears to have been arranged rather quickly.”
Yvonne Fletcher’s mother, Queenie, said: “I really don’t know exactly how I feel about it yet. Maybe if something good comes out of it then it’ll be worth it. But we’ll just have to wait and see.”
Past Libyan connections to the IRA have been well documented, and DUP assembly member Ian Paisley Jnr accused Mr Blair of seeking to “sanitise the Libyan dictator and purge him of his past crimes”.
He added: “What should we expect from a man who helped bring Sinn Féin/IRA in from the cold?”
“Instead of offering UK military training to the troops of someone with the reputation of Col Gaddafi, Tony Blair should be demanding that the Libyans accept responsibility for their association with the IRA and apologise to and recompense the victims of republican violence.”
Mr Blair’s visit follows that of his close European ally Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and a senior US envoy who also made the trek to Col Gaddafi’s tent.
Senior British officials travelling with Mr Blair made no apologies for the visit last night with one saying: “Part of our agreement with Libya was that we and the US would act quickly to bring them back and show them the rewards of cooperation with the international institutions.”
Mr Blair, in Lisbon last night for talks with his Portuguese counterpart Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, insisted European divides over the war on Iraq should not hinder the war on terrorism, adding: “At this time, let us unite, put aside our differences, refuse to be divided by terrorism and express our strength and confidence in our own way of life which we will defend to the end.”
After his meeting with Col Gaddafi, Mr Blair is due to fly on to Brussels for an EU summit also likely to be dominated by the aftermath of the March 11 Madrid train bombing.
