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Ex-police officers to train Libyans

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Libyan police in Tripoli
Retired police officers from London and Northern Ireland will travel to Libya next month to provide more training at public expense.

Five officers will give a 12-day training programme to 20 Libyan drug law enforcement officers with money from the official purse.

On Monday night, DUP leader Peter Robinson warned that his party would not tolerate any more officers from Northern Ireland travelling to the north African state.

The DUP is spearheading efforts to gain compensation for IRA victims in Libya, which helped finance the armed group during the Northern Ireland conflict.

NI-CO, the body administering the programme, is self-financing but overseen by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, which is in DUP hands.

DUP MP Nigel Dodds said last week that whoever decided to send serving PSNI officers to Libya was "living on a different planet".

It was later revealed that MLA Ian Paisley Junior was a key part of the authorisation process.

Mr Robinson is in London on Monday evening for a meeting with Gordon Brown on policing and justice.

Mr Robinson said earlier on Monday: "Libya not only supplied arms but also helped finance the Provisional IRA, therefore it is imperative that it makes recompense for that role.

"It is clear from the reception for the Lockerbie bomber (Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi) that Libya still has a long way to go.

"Consequently, none of our elected representatives will be supporting any future deployments of police personnel to Libya until they have reached a settlement on the payment of compensation to PIRA (Provisional IRA) victims and relations have been normalised."

Mr Paisley has defended his involvement, saying it was useful to bring back information.

Victims of IRA violence expressed disbelief last week at the inclusion of an officer from Northern Ireland in the Libyan training scheme.

© Press Association

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