PARIS — Libyan leader Moammar Khadafy insisted Tuesday thata his government was never involved in terrorist acts, blaming two bombings of Western passenger jets on “individuals,” and he disputed critics who accuse Libya of abusing human rights.
Speaking in a French TV interview on the second day of an official visit to France, Khadafy said Libya wants to take its place in a world marked by peace and cooperation.
Protests over his six-day visit, which has clinched contracts worth billions of dollars for French business, grew larger Tuesday when he entered the grounds of the National Assembly. More than half the 80 lawmakers invited to the session at the speaker’s residence boycotted the event.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is the first Western leader to offer an official visit since Khadafy’s falling-out with the West in the 1980s.
