Libya back in international fold

British Prime Minister Tony Blair sealed Libya8217;s return to the international fold on Thursday with an historic handshake with Muammar G...

British Prime Minister Tony Blair sealed Libya8217;s return to the international fold on Thursday with an historic handshake with Muammar Gaddafi and an agreement to fight Al Qaeda together. After more than an hour of talks, Blair said Libya8217;s rejection of banned weapons and rapprochement with the West could act as a template for other Arab nations to turn their back on Islamic extremism.

8216;8216;We are showing by our engagement with Libya today that it is possible for countries in the Arab world to work with the US and the UK to defeat the common enemy of extremist fanatical terrorism driven by Al Qaeda,8217;8217; he told reporters. 8216;8216;It is a very important signal for the whole of the Arab world.8217;8217;

On the first visit to Libya by a British leader since 1943, Blair was whisked to a ceremonial tent outside Tripoli to meet the Libyan leader once condemned by former US President Ronald Reagan as the 8216;8216;mad dog of the Middle East8217;8217;.

There the pair symbolically shook hands for the cameras before vowing to work together to oppose militant Islamic groups. 8216;8216;You are looking good, you are still young,8217;8217; Gaddafi told Blair, speaking in English.

Blair said Gaddafi recognised 8216;8216;a common cause with us in the fight against Al Qaeda, extremism and terrorism, which threatens not just the western world but the Arab world also8217;8217;.

Blair promised not to forget 8216;8216;the pain of past actions8217;8217; after the 1988 Lockerbie bombing which killed 270 people but said Libya should be welcomed back into the international fold.

8216;8216;In reaching out the hand of partnership today, we do not forget the past,8217;8217; he said. 8216;8216;But we do try in the light of the genuine changes happening to move beyond it.8217;8217; Blair is the first British leader to visit Libya since Winston Churchill over 60 years ago.

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Foreign Minister Mohamed Abderrhmane Chalgam said Libya, like the West, opposed Osama bin Laden8217;s Al Qaeda network.

8216;8216;For us they are a real obstacle against our progress, against our security, against women8230;against any change in our region,8217;8217; he told reporters.

Britain8217;s Opposition Conservatives said the timing of Blair8217;s visit was 8216;8216;highly questionable8217;8217;, coming a day after he attended a memorial service for this month8217;s Madrid rail bombing victims 8212; Europe8217;s biggest terror attack since Lockerbie.

But many relatives of the Lockerbie victims say they are supportive of the diplomatic milestone. 8212; Reuters