Blair shakes hands with Gaddafi
Tony Blair has met and shaken hands with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi today.
The handshake is part of an historic visit by Mr Blair, and follows a rapid thawing of relationships between Libya and the West.
The UK prime minister has pledged not to “forget the pain of the past”, but said he will “offer our hand in partnership” to the Libyans.
He met with Mr Gaddafi in a Bedouin tent on the outskirts of Tripoli.
Libya was implicated in the Lockerbie airliner bombing in December 1988, which killed 270 people. However recently Libya has admitted responsibility, paid compensation to the families of the victims and ditched its WMD programme.
“Let us offer to states that want to renounce terrorism and the development of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons our hand in partnership to achieve it as Libya has rightly and courageously decided to do,” Prime Minister Blair said during a press conference yesterday.
“That does not mean forgetting the pain of the past but it does mean recognising change when it happens,” he added.
Mr Blair is the first British leader to visit the North African state since the Second World War.
He has said the UK will offer help in training military personnel. Libya will also hope the UK will add its voice to calls to ease international restrictions.
Tory leader Michael Howard attacked the visit, coming the day after Mr Blair attended a memorial to victims of the Madrid rail bombings, saying it is “quite odd timing to go from a service which commemorates the victims of the biggest terrorist attack on Europe since Lockerbie, to go straight from there to Libya.”
