Libya & Terrorism

On 15 May 2006, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced the restoration of diplomatic relations with Libya, and its removal from the US blacklist of states that sponsor terrorism.

“We are taking these actions in recognition of Libya’s continued commitment to its renunciation of terrorism,” she said, adding that Tripoli’s cooperation had been “excellent”.

Libya welcomed the US decision as being in the “mutual interest” of both countries.

The restoration of ties is the culmination of a process that began in 2003, when Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Qadhafi agreed to dismantle his country’s WMD programmes.

“As a direct result of those decisions, we have witnessed the beginning of that country's re-emergence into the mainstream of the international community,” Rice said. “Today marks the opening of a new era in US-Libya relations that will benefit Americans and Libyans alike.”

Libyan Foreign Minister Abdurrahman Shalgam said the decision would “certainly open a new chapter in the relations of the two countries.”

The US had not had formal diplomatic relations with Libya since 1980, although a thaw in long-standing hostilities led to Washington opening a diplomatic office in Tripoli in 2004.

That year, Libya authorised a second payment of $4 million per family to the families of the 270 victims of the 1988 Pan Am Lockerbie bombing, and agreed to pay $170 million to the non-US families of the victims of the 1989 bombing of the French UTA passenger aircraft. Libya acknowledged responsibility for Lockerbie (which took place 2 years after being bombed by the US), handed over two agents for international trial, agreed $2.7bn compensation for the victims.

Libyan officials were also instrumental in the handover of Amar Saifi, the number-two figure in the Salafist Group for Call and Combat. Saifi is responsible for kidnapping 32 Western tourists in Algeria in 2003.

Qadhafi called the 9/11 attacks “horrifying,” and urged Muslim charitable agencies to provide aid to the US. Libya has reportedly shared intelligence with US officials about Libyan Islamist militants tied to al-Qaeda.

In 1999, Libya helped negotiate the release of a group of international hostages held by the Abu Sayyaf Group, a Philippine terrorist group with ties to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network.

Libya has no ties with the terrorist group. Almost all Libyans are Muslim, and the country’s legal system is based on the Koran, but Libya does not subscribe to a fundamentalist interpretation of Islamic law.

Qadhafi faces opposition from militant Islamist groups. A 1998 attempt by the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group to assassinate him led to a crackdown on Islamist opposition and the reported issuing of an arrest warrant for bin Laden. The US State Department placed the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, which has been linked to al-Qaeda, on its terrorist exclusion list in December 2001; its members are to be denied US visas.