Libya's Gadhafi welcomed in Rome

Published: June 10, 2009 at 1:31 PM

ROME, June 10 (UPI) -- Italy's Premier Silvio Berlusconi called the visit of Libya's Moammar Gadhafi the end of a painful period in relations between the two nations.

Gadhafi arrived in Rome Wednesday to begin a three-day visit to Italy, the one-time colonial ruler of Libya until being ousted during World War II.

The ANSA news agency said Berlusconi greeted Gadhafi at Ciampino Airport and declared "a long and painful chapter in our history is closed."

Gadhafi was accompanied by his usual all-female security detail as well as an aging descendant of Omar Mukhtar, a Libyan resistance leader hanged by Italian police in 1931.

The two Mediterranean nations last year signed an accord that includes Rome's pledge to spend $200 million over the next 25 years on various public works projects and land-mine removal. In exchange, Libya will consider claims from some 20,000 Italians kicked out of the country by Gadhafi in the 1970s.

© 2009 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Order reprints



Additional News Stories
Playboy hires out operations to cut costs (6 min)
UPI NewsTrack Business (11 min)
Insurance fund for bank deposits turns red (20 min)
Tsunami educational Web site developed (22 min)
Most Nickelodeon food ads for junk food (42 min)
GM loses buyer for Saab (45 min)
Healthcare reform = People more confident (49 min)
fark
Police need to find this woman chop-chop
Several pictures of a squirrel with enormous balls. It's what Fark was made for
Britain opens official inquiry into Iraq war, appoints insider to run it. Expect hard-hitting answers...
Beachfront property owners band together to protest the State adding sand to their beaches. Which...
The Institute for Really Bad Ideas is proud to present its latest breakthrough advertising campaign:...
How the mighty have fallen. It used to be that one Ranger could roundhouse kick an entire drug cartel...