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by Ashraf Abdul Wahab.
Talks have been held in Tripoli between the Libyan Foreign Minister, Ashour Ben Khayal, and his Algeria counterpart, . . .[restrict]Mourad Medelci. Medelci is the first Algerian minister to visit Libya since the fall of Muammar Qaddafi.
It was reported that he would also meet later in the day NTC chairman Mustafa Abdul Jalil and Prime Minister Abdurrahim Al-Kib.
A statement said that the two foreign ministers discussed bilateral relations and issues of common interest. However, a Libyan official who did not to be named reporetd that the talks focused on the Algerian position towards the 17 February Revolution. He said that the Algerian minister was told that the future of bilateral relations depended on his government’s response to Libya’s demands that members of the Qaddafi family in exile in Algeria be extradited. So far, Algeria has rejected the demands.
Last month, NTC chairman Mustafa Abdul Jalil said that Libya’s relations with its neighbours would depend on them handing over leading members of the Qaddafi regime.
In a statement to the Libyan newspaper Al Watan, Medelci said that Algeria’s position was not against the 17 February Revolution which made been made by the Libyan people themselves. He believed that the Algerian and the Libyan people had a great deal in common and had to work to strengthen relations between the two countries. However, the Qaddafi family in Algeria would not be surrendered, he said.
While Medelci was in Tripoli there were protests outside the Algerian embassy demanding that members of the Qaddafi family and other former officials be handed over.
There were also protests outside the Egyptian embassy demanding that Cairo hand over former officials in hiding there.
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