BENGHAZI (Libya), Aug 30: Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Saturday apologised to Libya for damage inflicted by Italy during the colonial era and signed a five-billion-dollar investment deal by way of compensation.

Berlusconi made the apology during a visit to the Mediterranean city of Benghazi for a meeting with Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi to

seal a cooperation accord with the oil-rich north African nation.

Speaking on behalf of the Italian people, he expressed regret for the “deep wounds caused by Italian colonisation to the people of Libya”. He and Qadhafi then signed a “friendship and cooperation agreement” aimed at recompensing Libya for damage incurred during the colonial era.

“The accord will provide for $200 million a year over the next 25 years through investments in infrastructure projects in Libya,” Berlusconi said in remarks translated into Arabic.

“This agreement should put an end to 40 years of discord. It is a concrete and moral acknowledgement of the damage inflicted on Libya by Italy during the colonial era,” he told reporters.

Formerly a part of the Ottoman Empire, Libya was occupied by Italy in 1911 and turned into a colony in the 1930s.

The country gained its independence in 1951 after a

brief period under a UN-mandated Franco-British administration.

Italy and Libya have spent years negotiating a wide-ranging treaty to cover compensation for Rome’s military occupation and colonisation.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is set to follow in Berlusconi’s footsteps next week, for the first visit by such a high-ranking US official to Libya since 1953.

Berlusconi, on his second trip to Libya since June, said that among the major projects to be financed by Italy will be a coastal motorway from the Tunisian border to Egypt.

Rome will also fund house construction, scholarships for Libyan students to study in Italy and pensions for those mutilated by landmines laid by the Italian military.

The agreement will also cover cooperation in the fight against illegal immigration, which Berlusconi termed a battle “against slave traders.”

Funding for the coastal highway — previously estimated to cost $4.65 billion — was promised by Berlusconi on a visit to Tripoli in 2004, when he headed a previous administration.

When the two leaders met in June, Berlusconi was pushing for the rapid implementation of a December 2007 accord on joint maritime patrols to curtail the flow of thousands of illegal immigrants from Africa to Europe.

Italian shores, especially the small island of Lampedusa south of Sicily, are a favourite destination for those making the crossing from North Africa in the hope of a new life in Europe, despite the perilous journey.

Italy also on Saturday returned a Roman statue of the goddess Venus dating back to the second century which was found in 1913 by Italian troops near the ruins of the Greek and Roman settlement of Cyrene, on the Libyan coast.

Berlusconi’s visit to Benghazi, 1,000km east of Tripoli, coincides with the anniversary of the coup that brought Qadhafi to power on September 1, 1969.—AFP