US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hailed Libyan forces who ousted Muammar Gaddafi and vowed support for a democratic transition, on a surprise visit to Tripoli yesterday.
She flew in via Malta as Libya’s new rulers try to crush the last pockets of resistance by fighters loyal to Col Gaddafi in his hometown of Sirte.
“This is Libya’s moment. This is Libya’s victory. The future belongs to you,” she said, eight months after Libyans rose up against the four-decade rule of Col Gaddafi, sparking a conflict that has killed thousands.
Addressing National Transition Council chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil and interim premier Mahmud Jibril, she said: “In crowded squares and mountain passes, you stood up against a dictator’s aggression and claimed the rights and dignity of a free people ...
“The United States was proud to stand beside you in your fight for freedom and we will continue to stand with you as you continue this journey, respecting your sovereignty and honouring our friendship.” But she also warned against the perils of civil war.
“One factor we know must be confronted is unifying the various militias into a single military that represents the Libyan people,” she told a press conference.
“Putting a national army and a police force under civilian command is essential.”
Mrs Clinton, asked if Washington would cooperate with Libyan Islamists, said: “We will support a process of democratisation that respects the rule of law, that respects the rights of minority and women” and allows for a free media.”
The case also came up of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi, the only man convicted for the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jet that killed 270 people when it blew up over the Scottish town of Lockerbie.
Mr Megrahi, who was said to have terminal cancer, was released from a Scottish jail on compassionate grounds in August 2009 and said to have only three months left to live.
Mrs Clinton was asked if Mr Megrahi, who is still still alive and in Libya, should go back to jail. Rather than answer the question directly, she said: “I have said many times he should never been released.”
She added that the US “will continue to pursue justice” on behalf of the Lockerbie victims.
Mrs Clinton was the first US Cabinet official to visit Libya since September 2008, when her predecessor Condoleezza Rice met Col Gaddafi in what was a new stage in Washington’s reconciliation with a former enemy state.
Ms Rice’s visit came five years after Col Gaddafi’s dramatic announcement he was renouncing efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction.
“We recognise the bloody fighting continues ... Nato and the international coalition ... will continue to protect Libyan civilians until the threat from Gaddafi and those who hang to the past is ended,” Mrs Clinton said.
She said Washington already has more than a dozen expert advisers on the ground, helping Libya secure and destroy dangerous stockpiles of weapons and that the Administration is working with Congress to provide $40 million to support that effort.