New Jersey officials tell Gaddafi to stay away

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The possibility that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi may pitch his tent in the town of Englewood, New Jersey, while attending the U.N. General Assembly next month had local officials in uproar on Monday.

Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes said it would be offensive for Gaddafi even to be allowed a U.S. visa after Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset al-Megrahi was given a "hero's welcome" on his return to Libya last week.

Megrahi was freed from a life sentence in a Scottish jail on compassionate grounds because he is dying of cancer.

An official at the Libyan mission to the United Nations confirmed Gaddafi planned to attend the General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York City but said there was no information about where he would stay. Gaddafi is scheduled to address the assembly on September 23.

Wildes said the Libyan embassy owns a 4.5-acre (1.8-hectare) property in Englewood next door to a Jewish school and a rabbi.

"People are infuriated that a financier of terrorism, who in recent days gave a hero's welcome to a convicted terrorist, would be welcomed to our shores, let alone reside in our city," Wildes told Reuters.

Relatives of U.S. victims have strongly condemned the Scottish government over its decision to release Megrahi, 57, the only person convicted of the bombing of a Pan Am jet over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988 that killed 270 people.

"Gaddafi can be assured that he is not welcome here," New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg said in a statement.

Long an international pariah, Gaddafi has improved his relations with Western governments in recent years since abandoning the pursuit of nuclear weapons and agreeing to accept responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing.

The leader of oil-rich Libya, an OPEC member, is known for pitching a large Bedouin tent on his trips abroad.

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Washington was discussing with U.N. officials and New York authorities how to meet its obligations toward visiting heads of state.

"No decision has been made about where anybody's going to pitch a tent," Kelly told reporters.

Asked whether it was appropriate for Gaddafi to stay in an area where some families of the bombing victims live, Kelly said: "I would urge any ... foreign leader to be sensitive to the concerns of victims of the most horrific terrorist attack before September 11 affecting American citizens."

Wildes, an immigration lawyer and former federal prosecutor, said Gaddafi should be denied a U.S. visa.

The U.N. General Assembly is frequently an opportunity for critics to rail against the United States, which has little choice but to allow heads of state to attend.

Among those whose visits have angered Americans in recent years are Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and former Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

(Additional reporting by Arshad Mohammed in Washington; Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and John O'Callaghan)