Libya's foreign minister summoned European Union ambassadors on Saturday to protest their absence from a ceremony marking the 85th anniversary of a battle between Libyans and the Italian colonial army.
Abdel Rahman Shalgham protested at their failure to attend Friday's commemoration ceremony at the coastal city of Sirte of the fight against Libya's former colonial master, state television reported.
Shalgham said their absence had been noted by Libyan President Moamer Kadhafi.
The diplomats said their absence had not been a "coordinated move" and that they had not been informed that Kadhafi would attend the ceremony, the television report said.
Most EU countries have reopened diplomatic contacts with Libya after UN sanctions against the country were suspended in April 1999.
The lifting of sanctions followed the extradition of the two suspects in the 1988 Pan Am bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, for trial at a court under Scottish jurisdiction in the Netherlands. The trial opens on Wednesday – TRIPOLI (AFP).
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