Rice to travel to Libya

[September 03, 2008]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is set to travel to Libya this week. It is the first visit to the country by a U.S. secretary of state since 1953.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack says the trip marks a new chapter in U.S.-Libyan relations. Rice is scheduled to meet with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. McCormack said Tuesday that Rice will raise issues of human rights during her trip.

The U.S. and Libya have worked for nearly five years to rebuild ties since Libya abandoned its weapons of mass destruction programs and renounced terrorism.

Libya and the United States have settled all outstanding lawsuits by American victims of Libyan-linked terrorism, including the 1988 Lockerbie bombing and a 1986 attack on a Berlin disco.

[Associated Press]

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