Channelnewsasia.com: "BRUSSELS : Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi arrived in Brussels under tight security for a rare trip to Europe that marks another retreat from his country's pariah status.
Amid colourful and sometimes tense scenes Gaddafi, clad in flowing brown robes and black headcap, shook hands with European Commission chief Romano Prodi as he arrived at the headquarters of the EU executive for the two-day visit.
His team of female bodyguards was put to its first test as crowds of demonstrators, mostly supporting him but including some human rights protestors, swirled around the entrance to the commission in Brussels' EU district.
At one point a bodyguard leapt in to bundle a camera assistant out of the way of Khadafi, who flashed a V-sign as he stood in front of the Libyan and EU flags next to Prodi, who was dressed in a smart blue suit.
The trip comes days after US President George W. Bush's announcement that Washington was easing nearly two decades of economic sanctions on the oil-rich country.
It is the maverick leader's first official trip outside Africa or the Middle East since 1989 and marks the latest step of his country's return to international acceptability, which accelerated last December with an announcement that Libya was abandoning efforts to obtain weapons of mass destruction.
On the agenda is likely to be the arms embargo that remains in force against Libya despite the lifting of other international sanctions, and boosting Tripoli's relationship with the European Union.
But the visit is not without clouds. On the eve of his trip Amnesty International said Tripoli still regularly flouted human rights, charging that there was a "climate of fear" in Libya. "
Amid colourful and sometimes tense scenes Gaddafi, clad in flowing brown robes and black headcap, shook hands with European Commission chief Romano Prodi as he arrived at the headquarters of the EU executive for the two-day visit.
His team of female bodyguards was put to its first test as crowds of demonstrators, mostly supporting him but including some human rights protestors, swirled around the entrance to the commission in Brussels' EU district.
At one point a bodyguard leapt in to bundle a camera assistant out of the way of Khadafi, who flashed a V-sign as he stood in front of the Libyan and EU flags next to Prodi, who was dressed in a smart blue suit.
The trip comes days after US President George W. Bush's announcement that Washington was easing nearly two decades of economic sanctions on the oil-rich country.
It is the maverick leader's first official trip outside Africa or the Middle East since 1989 and marks the latest step of his country's return to international acceptability, which accelerated last December with an announcement that Libya was abandoning efforts to obtain weapons of mass destruction.
On the agenda is likely to be the arms embargo that remains in force against Libya despite the lifting of other international sanctions, and boosting Tripoli's relationship with the European Union.
But the visit is not without clouds. On the eve of his trip Amnesty International said Tripoli still regularly flouted human rights, charging that there was a "climate of fear" in Libya. "
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