Bonn Sends First Envoy to Libya Since ’86 Disco Bombing
West Germany today appointed an ambassador to Libya for the first time since the 1986 bombing of a West Berlin disco that U.S. officials blamed on the north African nation.
“We see in Libya positive changes, politically and economically and in terms of foreign policy,” said a Foreign Ministry spokesman who demanded anonymity.
The April 5, 1986, attack on West Berlin’s popular La Belle disco killed two U.S. military men and a Turkish woman and injured about 230 other people.
Citing what it said was proof of Libyan involvement in the La Belle attack, the United States bombed the Libyan cities of Tripoli and Benghazi 10 days later.
That May, the last West German ambassador left Tripoli at the end of his three-year tour and was not replaced due to the controversy over the La Belle bombing.
But since then, West Berlin authorities have said they have no concrete indications that Libya was involved.
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