Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Saturday apologized to Libya for damage inflicted by Italy during the colonial era and signed a US$5 billion investment deal by way of compensation.
Berlusconi made the apology during a visit to the Mediterranean city of Benghazi for a meeting with Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi to seal a cooperation accord with the oil-rich nation.
“It is my duty, as a head of government, to express to you in the name of the Italian people our regret and apologies for the deep wounds that we have caused you,” said Berlusconi, whose comments were translated into Arabic.
PHOTO: EPA
He and Qaddafi then signed a “friendship and cooperation agreement” aimed at recompensing Libya for damage incurred during the colonial era.
“The accord will provide for US$200 million a year over the next 25 years through investments in infrastructure projects in Libya,” Berlusconi said.
“This agreement should put an end to 40 years of discord. It is a concrete and moral acknowledgement of the damage inflicted on Libya by Italy during the colonial era,” he had told reporters earlier.
The signing ceremony took place in the garden of a palace occupied by the Italian governor in colonial times.
Berlusconi then bowed before the son of the hero of Libyan resistance against the Italian occupiers, Omar Mokhtar, in a symbolic gesture.
“This is an historic moment when two brave men acknowledge the defeat of colonialism,” Qaddafi said, raising his arms in a sign of victory.
“The Libyan people endured injustice and were attacked in their homes and they deserve an apology and compensation,” he said before a crowd that included diplomats and the children and grandchildren of Libyan resistance heroes.
Formerly part of the Ottoman Empire, Libya was occupied by Italy in 1911 before becoming a colony in the 1930s. The country gained its independence in 1951 after a brief period under a UN-mandated Franco-British administration.
An association representing Italians expelled from Libya in 1970 denounced Rome in a statement on Saturday for compensating Libya but ignoring the repatriated Italians.
It said Berlusconi should have “a sudden burst of dignity, humanity and respect so as to finally give satisfaction ... to the 20,000 Italian citizens who are still waiting for fair compensation from their government.”
Berlusconi, on his second trip to Libya since June, said that among the major projects to be financed by Italy will be a coastal motorway from the Tunisian border to Egypt.
Rome will also fund house construction, scholarships for Libyan students to study in Italy and pensions for those mutilated by land mines laid by the Italian military.
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