U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit Libya on Sept. 4, the first of its kind by the top U.S. diplomat since 1953, the State Department announced Tuesday.

Rice is due to meet with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi during her "historic" trip, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.

The United States had no diplomatic relations with Libya from 1980 until after the latter pledged to abandon weapons of mass destruction programs, stop exporting terrorism and pay compensation to the families of victims of two of the three attacks.

Since renouncing terrorism and weapons of mass destruction in 2003, Libya is no longer on the State Department's list of "state sponsors of terrorism."

Gaddafi described the Libya-U.S relations as no longer enemies but are not quite friends. "It is neither friendship nor enmity," he said, in remarks carried live on Libyan state television.

Following her visit to Libya, Rice will also travel to Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, according to the spokesman.

(Xinhua News Agency September 3, 2008)