LOC21:57
18:57 GMT
ROME, Oct 30 (KUNA) -- Libyan Secretary of the General People's Committee
for Foreign Liaison and Intl. Cooperation Abdul-Rahman Muhammad Shalgham said
here on Thursday Italy had informed Libyan Leader Col. Moammar Al-Gaddafi of
the U.S. plans to launch an air-strike against Tripoli in 1986.
"The Italian warning came on the eve of the air-strike of April 14, 1986,"
Shalgham, who served as Libya's ambassador to Italy between 1984 and 1995,
said during a symposium hosted here by the Italian Foreign Ministry.
"It is no secret that Italy warned us of the attack that was launched from
the U.S. airbase in the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa, south Italy," the
Libyan minister revealed.
"I had personally received the notice of the then Italian government led by
the Socialist leader Benedetto (Bettino) Craxi who was opposed to the use of
Italian territories by U.S. in attacking Libya," Shalgham added.
The attacks targeted several sites in north Libya including Gaddafi's camp
in Beni-Ghazi.
Shalgham's statements were confirmed later in the day by Giulio Andreotti,
former Italian prime minister.
Andreotti, an Italian Senator and veteran politician, said the U.S. attacks
were "an unjustifiable mistake" with an international nature. (end)
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