Qadhafi's death marks 'end of an era of despotism': EU

BRUSSELS: The death of Libya's Moamer Qadhafi "marks the end of an era of despotism," European Union president Herman Van Rompuy said Thursday.

The news that Qadhafi died in a raid in Sirte means an end also to the "repression from which the Libyan people have suffered for too long," Van Rompuy said in a joint statement with European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso.

The pair said Libya's National Transitional Council must now "pursue a broad-based reconciliation process which reaches out to all Libyans and enables a democratic, peaceful and transparent transition in the country."

European Parliament president Jerzy Buzek will visit Libya from Saturday.

"I am happy I will be visiting a country fully liberated from a dictator who has imposed his iron fist for more than 40 years. Now Libya can truly turn the page," he added.

"We announce to the world that Qadhafi has been killed at the hands of the revolution," National Transitional Council spokesman Abdel Hafez Ghoga earlier said in the eastern city of Benghazi.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011