US Brings Libya in From the Cold

The US has ended a three-decade cold war with Libya and announced that it no longer considers the country a state sponsor of terrorism.

The move is a dramatic turnaround for a country that in the 70s and 80s was one of the west's most implacable foes.

Under its leader Muammar Gadafy, Libya was a prominent supporter of terrorist groups including the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, the IRA and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the southern Philippines.

It is believed to have orchestrated the 1988 Lockerbie plane bombing in which 270 people died, and Libyan agent Abdel Baset al-Megrahi is currently serving a life sentence in Scotland for his role in the attack.

But Tripoli began to reorient itself towards the west in 2003, announcing that it was closing down a secret nuclear weapons programme and subsequently hosting a meeting between Colonel Gadafy and Tony Blair in 2004.

Announcing today's move, US assistant secretary of state David Welch said other international pariahs could come in from the cold in the same way.

"Today's announcement demonstrates that when nations choose to conform to international norms of behaviour they will reap the benefits," he said.

The US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, encouraged the so-called "axis of evil" states of Iran and North Korea to make a similar change in their stance.

"Libya is an important model as nations around the world press for changes in behaviour by the Iranian and North Korean regimes, changes that could be vital to international peace and security. We urge the leadership of Iran and North Korea to make similar strategic decisions that would benefit their citizens," she said.

As a result of the announcement, the US will appoint an ambassador to Tripoli for the first time since 1972, will take Libya off its list of state sponsors of terrorism and has promised to broaden bilateral relations between the two countries. There were no diplomatic relations between the two countries between 1980 and 2004.

Libyan foreign minister Abdurrahman Shalgham said the move would open a new chapter in relations between the two countries.

"It was a result of contacts and negotiations. It is not unilateral. It is a result of mutual interests, agreements and understandings," he said.

Colonel Gadafy's ceaseless opposition to western powers and his support for CIA-style "dirty war" tactics in the 80s made his country an international outcast.

The Lockerbie bombing was considered the worst terrorist attack against the US until September 11, and Libyan agents are also believed to have been responsible for the 1984 murder of British police officer Yvonne Fletcher outside the Libyan embassy in London.

Britain, for its part, provided RAF bases for a series of US air strikes on Tripoli in 1986, which were launched in response to a bombing targeting US troops in Germany that Washington claimed had been orchestrated by Colonel Gadafy.