Libya makes US beauty special envoy

Tecca was shown a women's military academy

The US participant in an international beauty contest hosted by Libya has been made an honorary envoy for the country.

Libyan news agency Jana reported that Tecca Zendik was given a Libyan passport and appointed honorary consul of Libya in the USA in a ceremony held in Tripoli.

There are no official diplomatic ties between Libya and the United States.

The US withdrew all its diplomats from the country in 1980 after the French embassy there was set on fire.

Comfort

I am not alone among the American people in wanting peace and not war

US beauty queen

Ms Zendik caught the eye of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi during the November 2002 web-based contest - the first international beauty pageant to be held in Libya.

As the contestants were given a tour of the Gaddafi home, he explained that it had been bombed by US aircraft in 1986 and that two of his adopted children were killed in the attack.

She burst in to tears as the Libyan leader launched a verbal attack on her country.

When Col Gaddafi saw the 19-year old model crying he is reported to have called her to his side to comfort her.

The next day he asked after Ms Zendik's health and sent her a watch on which his face is surrounded by diamonds.

'Harbinger of peace'

A Libyan Foreign Ministry official attending the Tripoli ceremony to give Ms Zendik her passport and honorary post said:

Ms Zendik hopes to improve relations between Libya and US

"We celebrate today the harbinger of peace which came to us from the United States to confirm that relations between the Libyan and American peoples are civilized relations."

He called for "lessons to be learned" from the bombing of Gaddafi's home.

In Ms Zendik's acceptance speech she said she would make efforts to improve relations between the Libyan and America people.

"I am not alone among the American people in wanting peace and not war. Many other Americans share the same feelings with me," she added.

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.