TRIPOLI - Libya signaled the end of a diplomatic row with the United States Wednesday, saying it accepted an apology for acerbic comments made by a US official and wanted to deepen relations in all areas. The Libyan foreign ministry "states that it accepts the apology and strong regret shown by the State Department," it said in a statement obtained by Reuters. The ministry said it "..welcomes resuming the exchange of visits between officials of the two countries and insists on its willingness to develop bilateral relations in all fields and within a framework of mutual respect." US energy firms including Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips, Hess, Marathon and Occidental have invested billions of dollars in Libya, home to Africa's largest proven oil reserves. The row with Washington centered on a speech Gaddafi made last month calling for a "jihad" against Switzerland, with which Tripoli has a long-running dispute. The word is often translated as meaning "armed struggle" but Libyan officials later said Gaddafi meant only a trade embargo. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Gaddafi's speech reminded him of a previous address by the Libyan leader, which, he said, involved "lots of words and lots of papers flying all over the place, not necessarily a lot of sense." Libya responded by summoning the US envoy in Tripoli to protest, then warning US energy firms they could suffer unless Washington apologised for Crowley's remarks. In Washington Tuesday, Crowley apologised, telling reporters: "I understand that my personal comments were perceived as a personal attack on the president." "These comments do not reflect US policy and were not intended to offend. I apologise if they were taken that way." The London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper quoted Shokri Ghanem, head of Libya's state energy firm NOC, as saying before the US apology that the diplomatic row had prompted Libya to start looking for new energy partners. The Libyan foreign ministry's statement Wednesday did not say whether the warning to US energy firms still applied.
