CAIRO, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Libya on Friday for a landmark meeting with Libyanleader Muammar Gaddafi, the pan-Arab al-Jazeera TV channel reported.

    Upon touching down, Rice, the first U.S. secretary of state to visit Libya since 1953, said that it is a proof that the United States had no "permanent enemies, " according to the TV correspondent.

    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 the 1998 Pan Am 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland and a 1986 attack on a disco in Berlin.

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

    Following her visit to Libya, during which she is set to meet Libyan leader Gaddafi, Rice will also travel to Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, her spokesman announced Tuesday.