Kadhafi showered Condoleezza Rice with gifts: report

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Libya's leader Colonel Moamer Kadhafi showered then U.S. secretary of state Condoleezza Rice with gifts during her historic visit to Tripoli last year, according to a government report.

Kadhafi, who did not hide his admiration for the woman he called ""Leeza"" rather than her nickname ""Condi,"" gave her a diamond ring in a wood box, a locket with his photograph and a DVD with a musical instrument.

The value of the gifts amounted to 212,225 dollars, according to the 2008 annual report of gifts given to members of the U.S. administration that was published in the Federal Register.

The first U.S. chief diplomat to travel to Libya for 55 years, Rice received the gifts when she met Kadhafi on her visit to Tripoli on September 5.

The Federal Register did not specify what instrument she received, but the official Libyan news agency JANA previously reported that Kadhafi presented her with a lute.

Rice's spokesman Sean McCormack also received a gift from Kadhafi: a Swiss watch bearing a portrait of the Libyan leader.

All the presents become public property as U.S. law bars any representative of the U.S. government from receiving a present from a foreign government.

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