On Monday I had a bilateral meeting in Brussels with the Foreign Minister of Libya who was attending a meeting between the European Community and the Arab Maghreb Union of which Libya is a member. I outlined to the Libyan Foreign Minister our grave concerns on the issue and asked him for assurances that Libya had renounced its support for the IRA and had ended its arms supplies to that organisation.
The Libyan Foreign Minister assured me in his official capacity that Libya does not recognise, does not deal with and will not deal with the IRA; that Libya does not supply the IRA with arms or money; and that it does not develop contacts and has no relations with the IRA. He went on to assure me that Libya is closing its doors to any organistion practising terrorism anywhere in the world whether it be in the Middle East, Latin America or Europe including in particular Ireland.
I welcome these assurances and I expect the Libyan authorities to adhere scrupulously to them.