US resumes relations with Libya

Relations with Gaddafi were frozen for more than two decades

The United States has formally resumed diplomatic ties with Col Muammar Gaddafi's government in Libya after 24 years, US officials announced.

Assistant Secretary of State William Burns revealed the news after talks with Colonel Gaddafi and his ministers in the Libyan capital, Tripoli.

Mr Burns was in the city to formally open a new US liaison office.

Libya's ties with the West have blossomed since it renounced weapons of mass destruction in December.

Mr Burns added that Libya would be "taking its own steps to establish diplomatic representation in the US".

Saudi 'plot'

At his talks with the veteran Libyan leader, he passed on a letter from President George W Bush which was quoted by the Libyan state news agency.

Mr Bush hailed co-operation between US and Libyan experts on scrapping the North African country's weapons of mass destruction programmes, the agency said.

At his talks with Col Gaddafi, Mr Burns also raised the issue of recent allegations that Libya had planned to have Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, a key US ally, assassinated.

US state department spokesman Adam Ereli said later that Washington had "made clear [its] concerns about the story as well as reminding Libya of its assurances not to use violence for political objectives".