TRIPOLI: Top US diplomat Condoleezza Rice arrived in Tripoli yesterday on the first trip by a US secretary of state to Libya since 1953, and said it was proof that Washington had no “permanent enemies.”
Rice was set to meet Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi during her brief trip, which Washington hopes will end decades of enmity and violence and comes five years after Libya gave up its weapons of mass destruction program in 2003.
“This demonstrates that the US doesn’t have permanent enemies,” Rice told reporters traveling with her to Tripoli.
“It demonstrates that when countries are prepared to make strategic changes in direction, the United States is prepared to respond. Quite frankly I never thought I would be visiting Libya and so it is quite something,” she said.
“This trip is acknowledging how far the US-Libyan relationship has come, but it is the beginning and not the end of the story.”
Referring to the possible impact of the trip on bilateral ties, Rice said: “It is helpful, but this is a much broader relationship. It has much broader potential than just energy.” But Rice added that Libya, owner of Africa’s largest oil reserves, could help in terms of the world’s fuel supplies and that it was important to have reliable and multiple source of energy.
