Secretary of State Hillary Clinton touched down in LibyaTuesday afternoon, becoming the first cabinet level official to visit thecountry since NATO airstrikes began in March and Tripoli fell in late August.
A senior State Department official said that the purpose ofSecretary Clinton's visit is to congratulate the Libyan people on the ouster ofGadhafi from power, help with transition issues like unifying the rebelfighters and forge a deeper partnership with Libya.
Clinton arrived in Tripoli on a military C17 cargo planeequipped with defenses against surface-to-air missiles. Clinton's contingentswitched to the military aircraft on the island nation of Malta after anovernight flight from Washington, D.C.
While in Libya, Clinton will be meeting with Mahmoud Jibril,president of Libya's Transitional National Council; she with hold a town hallmeeting with the Youth and Civil Society at Tripoli University.
Clinton is undertaking the dangerous diplomatic mission asfighting is still raging in parts of Libya, and the country's former leaderMoammar Gadhafi is still on the run.
The adminstration is concerned about the fate of 20,000shoulder- launched missiles that the administration fears could fall intoterrorist hands. Many of them were destroyed in NATO airstrikes, but some arenow missing and could threaten commercial aircraft. There have been reportsthat some of these missiles have made their way to the Sinai Peninsula boundfor Gaza.
Clinton is offering Libya an additional $10 million on topof the $30 million already committed to help with the search and destruction ofthese missiles. The U.S. will increase the number of State Departmentcontractors beyond the 14 who are now already helping to destroy the missiles.
Although Clinton has been an advocate for military action inLibya, the NATO mission has not yet officially ended.
Gadhafi's home town of Sirte has yet to fall to rebelforces, and fears still remain of a civil war with pro-Gadhafi holdouts.