Qathafi meets with visiting US Congress delegation

Members of the US Congressional delegation met yesterday with Libya's Leader of the Revolution Colonel Muammar al Qathafi who received them in a tent in front of his previous residence in Bab al-Azezeyah which was destroyed by American bombardment 18 years ago.

The chairman of the delegation Kurt Wildon said after two meetings with Qathafi, one was attended by members of the delegation and the other alone with him, that "the commitment of the Libyan leader is very positive and very strong and I feel great optimism." He added that the delegation is looking for normalizing relations as soon as possible. The democratic Congressman Solomon described the meeting with al-Qathafi as friendly.

For his part, the spokesman for the Libyan foreign ministry, Hasounah al-Shawish, who attended the meeting said that the meeting which lasted for two and a half hours dealt with means of strengthening ties between Washington and Tripoli and establishing equal footing relations between the two countries.

Earlier the American congress delegation visited the Libyan nuclear facility and the house where al- Qathafi's adopted daughter was killed by American bombardment in 1986.

This visit, however, is considered the first of its kind held by an American parliamentary delegation to Libya since the Libyan leader assumed power in 1969. The delegation left Libya yesterday to Iraq and then to Afghanistan to visit the American forces in these two countries and to collect information on field conditions and to submit a report on that to the US Congress.