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Gaddafi seeks

end to two decade old

split with US

TRIPOLI: Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi said on Thursday he would welcome an end to the two decade old diplomatic split with the United States, amidst US accusations of Gaddafi supporting terrorism.

"We would favourably welcome renewed relations with America, which unilaterally decided in the past to break ties," Gadhafi told Arab News Network (ANN), a London-based satellite channel.

The US government broke ties with Libya in 1981. But the United States is considering lifting a ban on travel to Libya.

Gaddafi, who is to attend the EU-Africa summit next week in Cairo, did not let up on his repeated condemnations of the United States however.

"America exercised the worst of dictatorships and committed abuses against its citizens by banning them from travelling to Libya," he said.

Meanwhile, Gaddafi told ANN that he will take part in the EU-Africa summit in Cairo next Monday and Tuesday as the representative of the common market for eastern and southern Africa.

"At the Cairo summit, we are going to assert the need to bury the French-speaking communities and the 'Barcelona process' based on discriminatory principles," he told ANN.

"A united Africa will meet Europe and we won't agree to a division of the African continent," he added.

Gaddafi also came out strongly against Morocco joining the European Union.

"This membership would be a dangerous aberration and we reject it. Morocco is a member of the Arab nation and the African continent," he said.ÑAFP