ROME — Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has hailed a “new era” in relations with Italy during his first visit to his country’s former colonial ruler.
Gadhafi praised Premier Silvio Berlusconi for having taken the “historic decision” to apologize for Italy’s 30-year occupation by signing a $5 billion compensation package last year.
For his part, Berlusconi told a joint news conference today that he had a “true and profound friendship” with the Libyan leader, whom he described as a wise man of the world.
Italy ruled Libya from 1911 to 1941. A year after he seized power in a coup, Gadhafi in 1970 expelled the 20,000 Italians still living in Libya to punish Rome for the occupation.
Gadhafi’s four-day visit includes the rare honor of addressing the Italian Senate. He also agreed to meet with some of the Italians he kicked out of Libya in 1970.
Human Rights Watch decried the visit, saying it “celebrates a dirty deal” reached recently in which Italy sends back to Libya illegal immigrants rescued at sea who set sail in smugglers’ boats from Libyan shores.
Gadhafi arrived an hour late today, stepping off the Libyan plane wearing full dress military uniform. He escorted down the steps the elderly, white-robed son of a Libyan national hero who was executed by Italian colonial authorities for leading a guerrilla war against the Italians in the 1920s and 1930s.
Mohammed Omar al-Mukhtar, son of Omar al-Mukhtar, stepped gingerly down the steps, steadied by a cane. Pinned to Gadhafi’s uniform was a faded, black-and-white photo of the late hero chained by his Italian captors.
Berlusconi, squinting in the sun, and Gadhafi, his eyes behind big sunglasses, exchanged an embrace and smiles. At one point, Berlusconi gestured to his own neck, apparently indicating a stiff neck that the Italian leader reportedly has been suffering of late.
Berlusconi was scheduled to meet formally this evening with Gadhafi, one of the world’s longest-serving rulers. The Libyan leader was 27 when he took power in a 1969 coup.
Gadhafi acknowledged Italy’s efforts to improve relations. “We hail this generation of Italians for having resolved with extreme courage the questions of the past,” the Libyan leader said after a meeting with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano.
Giovanna Ortu, who heads an association of Italians expelled in 1970 from the North African country, said they will meet with Gadhafi on Saturday in a tent that has been erected for him in Rome’s Doria Pamphili park. They want some euro350 million in compensation for seized assets.
Last year, Italy agreed to compensate Libya for the hardships suffered under Italian occupation with a $5 billion package of construction projects, student grants and pensions for Libyan soldiers who served with the Italians during World War II.
In return, Libya agreed to crack down on the thousands of illegal migrants smuggled each year across the Mediterranean to Italy, although waves of boats keep arriving, often making it to the tiny Sicilian island of Lampedusa.
More recently, Libya agreed to take back migrants who set off from Libyan shores in smugglers boats and are rescued or intercepted by Italian military forces in international waters.
The United Nations refugee agency, the Vatican and aid groups say the deal violates migrants’ rights since they cannot apply for asylum in Italy.
“It’s shameful to open up the hall of the Senate to someone who doesn’t know what human rights are,” said Stefano Pedica, a senator from the opposition Italy of Values party.
In addition to meeting with expelled Italians, Gadhafi was scheduled to meet with some Jews who were expelled from Libya in an anti-Jewish backlash after Israel’s victory in the 1967 Middle East war. About 6,000 Libyan Jews were expelled at the time.
The head of Rome’s Jewish community, Riccardo Pacifici, questioned Gadhafi’s sincerity, noting that the proposed meeting Saturday morning falls on the Jewish Sabbath, making it impossible for observant Jews to participate.
Berlusconi, keen on having closer relations with Libya, which is rich in oil and natural gas, has invited Gadhafi to return to Italy next month for the Group of Eight summit.
Under Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, tens of thousands of Italians settled in the Italian colony in the 1930s, taking charge of road construction, power plants and other public works. Libya declared its independence in 1951.
In 1986, Tripoli launched a missile at the island of Lampedusa shortly after the 1986 U.S. bombing of Tripoli. Washington for years accused Gadhafi of sponsoring international terrorism.
A U.S. Coast Guard station was located then on the island. The missile fell harmlessly into the sea.
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