Rice: Not a threat anymore

Washington, May 15 (Reuters): The US restored full diplomatic ties with Libya today, rewarding the long-time pariah nation for scrapping its weapons of mass destruction programmes.

Culminating a gradual rapprochement, the US will reopen an embassy and remove Libya from a list of state sponsors of terrorism, secretary of state Condoleezza Rice said.

“We are taking these actions in recognition of Libya’s continued commitment to its renunciation of terrorism and the excellent cooperation Libya has provided to the US and other members of the international community in response to common global threats faced by the civilised world since September 11, 2001,” she said.

The two countries have not had full ties for more than 25 years, but relations dramatically improved after Libya decided in December 2003 to give up its weapons programme. In 2004, the US ended a broad trade embargo placed on the oil-producing nation in 1986.

The US embassy in Libya was set on fire by a mob in 1979. After declaring Libya a “state sponsor of terrorism,” a designation which triggers sanctions, the US closed its embassy there in 1980.

Ali Aujali, chief of the Libyan Liaison Office in Washington, welcomed the move. “This is what we expected for a long time to happen, and it is going to happen today. I am very happy to hear this news,” he said.

“This is what Libya expected, not only Libya but the whole world to see what Libya gets for the courage ... like what we did when we abandoned our weapons of mass destruction and started normalising our relations with the US... in fact it is a little bit slow but it is going to happen.”

Venezuela sanctions

The US imposed sanctions on Venezuela today, banning all arms sales to a major oil supplier for what it believes is a lack of help in Washington's war on terrorism, a State Department official said.

The move plummets the two nations’ ties to their worst level in decades and comes after years of antagonism between Leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Washington.