Turkey: Clinton meets with Libya opposition leaders

Hurriyet Daily News

Clinton wades into Arab revolutions on overseas tour
Sunday, March 13, 2011
WASHINGTON – Agence France-Presse

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton leaves Sunday for an overseas tour to find ways to help the Libyan opposition oust a third Arab leader and maintain the momentum of democracy revolutions.

The chief U.S. diplomat was due first in Paris for face-to-face talks with Libya's opposition before she travels to Tunisia and Egypt, where she will become the highest-level U.S. official to visit since their presidents were toppled.

In Paris on Monday, Clinton will also meet her counterparts from host France as well as Russia, Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy and Japan to discuss combat-torn Libya amid divisions over calls for foreign military intervention.

Her visit comes as forces loyal to Colonel Moammar Hadhafi have recaptured some lost territory and as top U.S. spy James Clapper has said Gadhafi's regime will prevail in the long run despite U.S. and international calls for him to go.

Clinton is also seeking to keep up the momentum for democracy when she visits Egypt and Tunisia following the toppling of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in February and Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January.

"We have an enormous stake in ensuring that Egypt and Tunisia provide models for the kind of democracy that we want to see," Clinton told lawmakers last week as she warned them about Iran's bid for influence in the region.

During her Tuesday to Thursday trip to Cairo and Tunis, she plans to meet the Egyptian and Tunisian people as well as their transitional leaders, as she calls for a larger aid commitment for these countries.

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