Libyan leader visits Europe

Published 9:00 pm Tuesday, April 27, 2004

BRUSSELS, Belgium – Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, once considered one of the world’s most dangerous men, came to Europe for the first time in 15 years Tuesday, offering business deals and an olive branch – along with a veiled threat to return to the “days of explosive belts” if provoked by “evil” from the West.

The one-time pariah swept through the headquarters of the European Union like a movie star in brown Bedouin robes, flanked by female bodyguards in blue camouflage.

He gave a clenched fist salute to about 200 supporters outside the building while a smattering of protesters barricaded across the street shouted, “Gadhafi murderer!”

European Commission President Romano Prodi presented Gadhafi with a boxed set of euro coins and a “pen to sign our friendship.” When Gadhafi jokingly asked what the coins were worth, Prodi responded: “Only 20 euros. It’s not a big value.”

After three hours of talks, Prodi declared himself “very happy” with the visit, which he said he worked five years to arrange.

But even Prodi began fidgeting uncomfortably as Gadhafi rambled on for half an hour to hundreds of journalists gathered for their only scheduled chance to hear him speak during the two-day visit.

“It goes without saying this is a very historic meeting,” Gadhafi began, speaking through a translator as three of his female bodyguards stood at attention behind him.

Gadhafi declared his readiness to work with the West peacefully after years of championing armed struggle against it.

“Libya did its duty when duty had to be done by arms,” he said. That included firing missiles at U.S. fighter aircraft in the 1980s and setting up training camps for “freedom fighters” from around the developing world, for which he said Libya was “unjustly” accused of a “kind of terrorism.”

Now that Libya has given up its weapons programs, it has become “an example to be followed,” he asserted, calling on countries “from China to America” to do the same.

“I would like to seize the opportunity today and declare before you … that Libya is determined and committed to play a leading role in achieving world peace,” he said.

Still, he warned an upsurge in violence across the Mideast could undo Libya’s conversion, apparently referring to the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“I hope we shall not be prompted or obliged by any evil to go back or look backward,” he said.

“Hopefully nothing would force us to go back to the days when we use our cars and explosive belts, to put explosive belts around ourselves or on our women so we will not be searched and harassed in our bedrooms and in our homes as is happening in Iraq and Palestine.

Prodi said he welcomed Gadhafi’s “bold moves” in renouncing weapons of mass destruction and said he was committed to bringing Libya into the EU’s regional aid and trade program “as soon as possible.”

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