Libya has the right to demand that Italy pay for damages caused during more than 30 years of "senseless" colonial rule, Italian Interior Minister Giuliano Amato said on Monday. "We have to accept the fact that we were the imperial country that invaded Libya at the beginning of the 20th century," Amato told Reuters in an interview.
"If there is a bill to be paid, there is no statute of limitations with history."
In February, 11 people were killed when crowds tried to storm the Italian consulate in Benghazi during protests against Danish cartoons lampooning the Prophet Mohammad.
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi later said the demonstrations were not over the cartoons but because Libyans hate their former colonial master and want compensation for the occupation that started in 1911.
Gaddafi has said that Italy agreed to pay compensation in 2004 when a pipeline to transport gas across the Mediterranean was inaugurated. But Gaddafi has not said how much compensation he expected and Italy has not given details of the still unfulfilled deal.
"We have to be aware that there is a legitimate demand for restoration by a country that was occupied by another for no other reason than imperialistic aspirations, which is something that has no sense at all," Amato said.
Italy has been at the forefront of the West's warming ties with Tripoli since it announced in December 2003 that it would stop pursuing nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.
But their bilateral ties are under pressure from the flow of illegal immigrants from Libya's coast to Italy's south, and the absence so far of any reparation payments.
Thousands of illegal immigrants arrive in Italy each year after making a risky sea crossing from North Africa. Amato, speaking from Rome's Viminale palace, said Italy should continue talks with Libya that include a possible highway for the North African country. He suggested the flow of immigrants might grow if Italy did not offer compensation.
"I understand that if they are not satisfied with our answers to their demands in relation to matters that have nothing to do with immigration, the inflows might be more intense. Somehow this is part of the ongoing negotiations.