Translated material
Venus for Gaddafi
Five billion dollars for 32 years of colonialism
Before leaving today for Brussels for the EU summit dedicated to events in the Caucasus, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi managed to take part in celebrations in Libya to mark the anniversary of the anti-monarchist revolution on September 1, 1969, which brought Muammar Gaddafi to power. The prime minister brought the Libyan leader a statue of Venus from Cyrenaica - that was the name of the ancient Roman province in what is now Libya. The statue was an exhibit of the National Museum of Rome, where Italian archaeologists took it from the colony then called “Italian Libya” in 1913.Another gift from the prime minister was a silver inkwell in the shape of a lion's head with two expensive fountain pens. After five years of negotiations, Berlusconi and Gaddafi signed an Agreement of Friendship and Cooperation on Saturday, after which the head of the Jamahiriya immediately declared August 30 a new holiday - the Day of Friendship between Libya and Italy. According to the agreement, Rome will compensate Tripoli for damages from colonialism, estimated at $5 billion. Berlusconi explained that this “involves the allocation of $200 million annually for 25 years”: “This is a material and emotional recognition of the mistakes of our country in the colonial era, opening the way to future cooperation."
The prime minister did not specify how much money the Italian state oil and gas giant ENI will receive for joint projects, but Libya already accounts for a quarter of all oil and a third of gas imported by Italy. Rome also pledged to invest $200 million in the construction of a thousand-kilometer North African coastal highway that would connect Tunisia and Egypt (the fascist leader of Italy, Duce Benito Mussolini, was also involved in this project).
Gaddafi, for his part, promised to reduce illegal migration from North Africa to Southern Europe. He made such assurances before, but now the Italians will install electronic tracking systems for illegal immigrants’ boats on the Libyan Mediterranean coast for $500 million.
Some of the money will go toward scholarships and grants for Libyan students in Italy, clearing minefields left in Libya after World War II, and pensions for Libyans who served in the Italian army before and during that war. Libya, part of the Ottoman Empire, was captured by the Italians and declared a colony in 1912. In 1943, the British and their Free French allies defeated the Italians, and all three provinces of Libya - Cyrenaica, Tripolitania and Fezzan - came under the mandate of London and Paris. In 1951, Libya gained independence.