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Italy Agrees to
$5 Billion in Compensation for Colonizing Libya
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Rome will
invest $5 billion in Libya in an effort to turn the page on colonial-era
disputes that have weighed on the countries' relations.
Libyan Foreign Minsiter Abdel-Rahman Shalgam told reporters
on Saturday, Aug. 30, that Berlusconi had pledged $5 billion (3.4 billion
euros) worth of construction projects, student grants and pensions for Libyan
soldiers who served in the Italian military during World War II.
The accord will provide for $200 million a year over the
next 25 years through investments in infrastructure projects.
"This agreement should put an end to 40 years of
discord," Berlusconi said. "It is a full and moral acknowledgement of
the damage inflicted on Libya by Italy during the colonial era."
One of the main projects to be financed is a freeway running
along the Mediterranean coast, said Berlusconi, who'd already pledged funding
for the road on a 2004 visit to the country.
In return, Italy wants Libya to crack down on illegal
migrants turning up on Italian shores and has promised to fund $500 million
worth of electronic monitoring devices on the Libyan coastline.
Making amends
Also on Saturday, Italy returned a second-century Roman
statue of the goddess Venus, which had been discovered by Italian soldiers on
the Libyan coast in 1913.
Formerly part of the Ottoman Empire, Libya was occupied by
Italy in 1911 before becoming a colony in the 1930s. It was briefly governed by
an UN-mandated Franco-British administration before gaining independence in
1951.
Berlusconi, on his second trip to Libya since June, was
visiting the Mediterranean city of Benghazi. He was scheduled to meet Libyan
leader Moammar Gadhafi Saturday to sign a friendship agreement.
Libya has named Aug. 30 Libyan-Italian Friendship Day.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is to follow
Berlusconi's lead next week, with the first visit by a high-ranking US official
to Libya since 1953. Relations between the US and Libya were suspended between
1981 and 2004 due to Tripoli's alleged support of terrorism.
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Europe