NEW YORK, Sept 24 (AFP) - Libya must clear up questions about its alleged plot to assassinate Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz if it wants normal ties with the United States, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Friday.
Powell, speaking a day after his landmark meeting here with Libyan Foreign Minister Abdelraham Shalgham, said the matter would remain a problem despite a broader warming of ties between Washington and Tripoli since late 2003.
"I conveyed to my Libyan colleague that it was an outstanding issue that required continued inquiry and investigation and that it would be a problem in our relationship ... as we go forward until the matter is cleared up," he said.
Powell said Shalgham, with whom he met for 25 minutes on Thursday in what are believed to be the highest-level talks between the two countries in 35 years, had not been able to satisfy the US concerns during their conversation.
"He did not have any information for me that advanced my knowledge of the subject or removed the problem," Powell told reporters at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York, where he is attending the UN General Assembly.
The alleged Libyan plot against Abdullah has been a sore point in an otherwise remarkable rapprochement between the United States and Libya since Tripoli agreed to a settlement in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing and renounced weapons of mass destruction last year.
Just this week, US President George W. Bush lifted most remaining economic sanctions on Libya, including restrictions on aviation services and unblocking some 1.3 billion dollars in frozen Libyan assets under US jurisdiction.
However, that step falls short of Libyan demands to be removed from Washington's list of "state sponsors of terrorism," which is required for the remaining US sanctions to be lifted.
After Powell and Shalgham's meeting, a senior State Department official said Libya had "a fair amount of work to do" to address the US concerns about terrorism, particularly about the alleged Saudi plot.
"We do have serious concerns about the issue of plotting against Saudi Arabia," the official said, adding: "I think the Libyans understand the significance of our concern about that and the need to follow up further."
Details of the alleged plot came to light earlier this year when an American Muslim activist pleaded guilty to illegal financial dealings with Libya and testified that he had been involved in a Libyan plan to kill the crown prince.
The United States has not taken a public stand on the veracity of the allegation, which has been denied by the Libyans, but has been pressing Tripoli to come clean on the matter as the two countries resume dialogue.