From: emmanuel (emmanuel@bayou.com)
Date: Sat Aug 30 2008 - 20:00:51 EDT
Report
Italy to pay $5B to Libya for occupation
The Associated Press | August 30, 2008
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Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi (2nd R) and Italian Prime Minister Silvio
Berlusconi (2nd L) sign the agreement in Benghazi August 30, 2008.
(AFP/Mahmud Turkia)
BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi signed a memorandum pledging a US$5
billion compensation package involving construction projects, student
grants and pensions for Libyan soldiers who served with the Italians
during World War II.
"It is a material and emotional recognition of the mistakes that our
country has done to yours during the colonial era," Berlusconi told
reporters at the airport on his arrival. "This agreement opens the path
to further cooperation."
In return, Italy wants Libya to crack down on illegal migrants turning
up on Italian shores, and Italy will fund US$500 million worth of
electronic monitoring devices on the Libyan coastline.
Gadhafi received Berlusconi under a big tent in Benghazi where they
discussed the agreement over lunch. The Italian leader said US$200
million of the package would be for infrastructure projects over the
next 25 years, including a coastal highway stretching across the country
from Tunisia to Egypt.
The two leaders exchanged gifts, with Berlusconi giving Gadhafi a silver
inkstand, sculpted in the form of a lion's head, with two pens inside to
sign the agreement. The Libyan leader gave Berlusconi a linen suit.
Berlusconi's office said in a statement that the premier would also hand
over to Gadhafi the Venus of Cyrene, an ancient Roman statue taken in
1913 by Italian troops from the ruins of the Greek and Roman settlement
of Cyrene, on the Libyan coast.
Relations between the two countries have warmed over the last few years,
with Italian leaders meeting Gadhafi several times. However, it has
taken years of negotiations for the two sides to reach a deal on
compensation for Italy's rule over Libya from 1911 to 1943.
Libya named Aug. 30 Libyan-Italian Friendship Day.
From from BBC
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has signed an agreement to pay
Libya $5bn as part of a deal to resolve colonial-era disputes.
Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi said the settlement signed in the city
of Benghazi opened the door to partnership between the two states.
Mr Berlusconi said the deal, which sees the money being released over 25
years, ended "40 years of misunderstanding".
Libya was occupied by Italy in 1911 before becoming a colony in the 1930s.
The former Ottoman territory became an independent country in 1951.
This is the first African country to be compensated by a former colonial
master, the BBC's Rana Jawad reports from Benghazi.
The question is, she adds: will this latest move set precedents for
other former African countries to follow suit?
Coastal motorway
Mr Berlusconi explained that $200m would be paid annually over the next
25 years through investments in infrastructure projects, the main one
being a coastal motorway between the Egyptian and Tunisian borders.
There will also be a colonial-era mine clearing project.
As a goodwill gesture, Italy also returned an ancient statue of Venus,
the headless "Venus of Cyrene", which had been taken to Rome in colonial
times.
The settlement was a "complete and moral acknowledgement of the damage
inflicted on Libya by Italy during the colonial era", the Italian prime
minister said.
"In this historic document, Italy apologises for its killing,
destruction and repression against Libyans during the colonial rule,"
Col Gaddafi said for his part.
The agreement was signed in the Benghazi palace which once housed the
Italian colonial administration, Reuters news agency reports.
Rome and Tripoli have spent years arguing over compensation for the
colonial period.
Mr Berlusconi's one-day trip was his second since June when illegal
immigration from Africa to Europe was the key issue of talks.
Italy has been swamped by thousands of African migrants trying to reach
its shores by boat.
Libya has come in from the diplomatic cold since 2003 when it abandoned
efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction.
Next week, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is scheduled to make
the first high-ranking American visit to Libya since 1953.
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