Libya comes out of the cold
(From The Japan Times Oct. 24 issue)

リビアが国連安保理非常任理事国に

Libya has won a nonpermanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. Tripoli's victory is the clearest sign of its international rehabilitation and a possible lesson for other so-called rogue states: Returning and respecting international norms can pay real dividends.

Libya has long been considered a pariah state. Washington has charged Libya with sponsoring international terrorism: It was alleged to be behind the 1986 bombing of a Berlin disco and the downing two years later of Pan Am flight 103, which claimed 270 lives. Libya also was said to support terrorist groups around the world. Thus in 1995 and 2000, the United States blocked Tripoli's Security Council candidacy.

But in recent years, relations between the two countries have warmed. A settlement over the Lockerbie incident was a critical first step — although the families of victims complain that Libya has paid only $ 8 million of a promised $ 10 million to each family, ruefully pointing out that Tripoli stopped payments when the U.S. dropped it from its list of state sponsors of terrorism.

A year later, Libya came clean on its programs to develop weapons of mass destruction, which helped expose the proliferation of the black market developed by A.Q. Khan. That "strategic choice" to cooperate with international authorities and accept international norms has made Tripoli the poster child for repentance.

In response, the United States restored diplomatic relations with Libya last year after a quarter century hiatus, lifted restrictions on U.S. trade and investment with the country — as a result imports from Libya increased to $ 2.47 billion last year from $ 1.59 billion in 2005, and U.S. exports increased some five times to a projected $ 419.6 million in 2007 — and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is planning to visit Libya later this year.

Such are the rewards for good behavior by "rogue states." It is a lesson that should be heeded by other states so characterized by the U.S. government. Successful foreign policy requires sticks and carrots.

リビアが国連安保理の非常任理事国になった。このことは同国の国際社会への復帰を象徴し、いわゆる「ならず者国家」にとってよい教訓となる。

リビアは、1988年に起きたパンナム航空機の爆破事件（死者270人）などの国際テロ事件に関与したとして、米国にテロ支援国家に指定されていた。1995年と2000年には、米国はリビアの国連安保理非常任理事国への立候補を阻止した。

しかし近年、パンナム機爆破事件の決着に続き、リビアは大量破壊兵器の開発計画を放棄、米・リビア関係は急速に改善した。

昨年、米は対リビア外交関係を正常化、同国との貿易、投資の制限を撤廃した。この結果、リビアからの輸入は06年に、前年比5割増の24億7,000万ドルとなった。リビアへの輸出は今年、5倍の4億1,900万ドルに達すると予想される。

外交を成功させるには「飴と鞭」の両方が必要だ。