U.S. Congressional Team on Trip to Libya

A congressional delegation is making the first visit by U.S. officials to Libya in decades in what could lead to a thawing of relations between Washington and Tripoli.

The visit follows a surprise pledge by Libya’s leader, Col. Moammar Kadafi, to abandon his pursuit of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and open his country to inspectors, an action that could help bring an end to U.S. economic sanctions imposed in the late 1970s and ‘80s.

Rep. Tom Lantos of San Mateo, top Democrat on the International Relations Committee, hopes to meet today with Kadafi. Lantos is accompanied by an aide to the committee’s chairman, Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Illinois), as well as his own staff. On Sunday, Lantos met with several Libyan officials, including Kadafi’s son, Seif Islam.

Six other members of Congress, including Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley), traveled separately to Libya. Gallegly said in a statement that the visit was not designed for negotiations, but as an acknowledgment of Kadafi’s “positive first step in rejoining the international community.”

Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), also on the trip, said he planned to encourage Kadafi to comply with international inspectors.

“At the same time, we will reassure him that once Libya lives up to its end of the bargain, we can finally begin the process of normalizing our relationship,” he said in a statement. Weldon established contact with the Libyan government during a recent meeting with Kadafi’s son in London.

According to Weldon’s office, this is the first official congressional delegation to visit Libya since Kadafi took power in 1969.

The United States, which has long branded the Libyan regime as a sponsor of terrorism, has sought since 1978 to isolate the country economically and diplomatically. The most significant action came during the Reagan administration, which banned the import of Libyan crude oil in 1982 and expanded sanctions in 1986 to include all travel and trade-related activities.

In 2002, a State Department report on terrorism cited improvements in Libya’s behavior, and the United Nations lifted sanctions last year after the North African nation accepted responsibility for the 1988 downing of a U.S. airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 270 people. Tripoli has agreed to pay up to $2.7 billion to the victims’ families.

After the settlement, Lantos made inquiries about traveling to Libya and obtained the State Department’s permission. An aide said the congressman coordinated the trip with the Bush administration.

In his State of the Union address to Congress last week, President Bush cited Libya’s pledge to abandon its nuclear weapons program as an example of a world that is “changing for the better” because of “American leadership and resolve.”