皇冠体育app

During his visit he met the Libyan Foreign and Interior Ministers and discussed with them a new partnership for the UK and Libya that will build on the UK鈥檚 solidarity with the Libyan people over the past ten months. 皇冠体育app UK and Libyan governments will look for practical ways to work together towards a future which sees a free and prosperous Libya playing a full role in the international community.

To that end, Mr Burt was delighted to be able to re-launch the British Council in Libya. Staff are now back at work, many technical skills and training programmes are already underway, and English language teaching will resume in March. 皇冠体育app FCO鈥檚 prestigious Chevening scholarship programme is open for applications and the Embassy will open a limited visa service again soon which will allow high level Libyan representatives to travel to the UK. It is hoped that this service will widen in the new year.

On 7 December, the Minister visited the ruins of the notorious Abu Saleem prison in Tripoli where more than 1,200 political prisoners are reported to have been summarily executed by the Qadhafi regime in 1996. Human rights activist Dr Guim al-Tagher, who was held for seven years in the prison in the 1990鈥檚, gave the Minister鈥檚 party a moving tour. Mr Burt remarked 鈥淎bu Saleem is reminder of the horrors of the Qadhafi regime. 皇冠体育app UK sadly shares that legacy with the death of WPC Fletcher, the Lockerbie tragedy and the people that died in Northern Ireland because of the transfer of Semtex from Libya. We have an opportunity to move forward together.鈥�

Mr Burt raised the UK police investigations into Lockerbie and the killing of PC Fletcher with both the Interior and Foreign Minister. Helping the relevant police services take forward these investigations is a priority for the British government. 皇冠体育app Libyan Ministers acknowledged the importance of these issues and Mr Burt said he was 鈥渧ery confident鈥� the Libyans would allow the Police to visit soon, although no date has been set.

Before he left Libya Mr Burt was able to drop by the Suq al-Juma鈥檃 neighbourhood revival project support by one of the member鈥檚 of the Embassy鈥檚 local staff. In recent months young men and women in the neighbourhood have sought to 鈥榮tart afresh鈥� with their own community and have worked to build garden at their local community centre. 皇冠体育appy also ran a competition to design murals to capture the spirit of the new era and these pictures have become a city landmark. Mr Burt said 鈥渢hese young people have shown how a community is free to pull together in the new Libya鈥�.