Gaddafi extends invitation to Bush
Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has invited US President George W Bush to visit Libya, a top US senator says.
Senator Richard Lugar was in Libya as the US and Tripoli started to rebuild ties after decades of hostility. The US began to ease sanctions on Libya last year after Colonel Gaddafi abandoned a nuclear weapons programme and paid compensation for the Lockerbie bombing. Speaking as Lugar’s two-day visit ended, Colonel Gaddafi’s son called for a process of national reconciliation. Lugar is the highest ranking US official to visit Libya in decades. He said the US was working towards opening an embassy in Libya, 24 years after it withdrew its ambassador.
The US opened a liaison office – a lower level diplomatic post – in Tripoli in 2004. Colonel Gaddafi’s son Seif al-Islam Gaddafi said any possible past human rights violations in his country should be investigated. Speaking on the al-Jazeera television network, he called on Libyans living abroad to return home, saying past injustices would be compensated.
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