Springs woman, whose brother died in attack, greets Gadhafi

Twenty-one years after the plane carrying her brother blew up in a terror attack over Lockerbie, Scotland, Lisa Gibson on Wednesday gave a gift to the leader of the nation believed responsible.

Hours after Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi gave a controversial and widely protested address before the U.N. in New York City, the 39-year-old Colorado Springs woman and another relative of a Lockerbie victim were invited to meet with Gadhafi.

Many were protesting his presence in New York because he welcomed the ‘Lockerbie terrorist’ back into Libya. Abd Al-Baset Al-Megrahi, who was convicted of a plot that caused a Pan-Am flight to crash, killing 270 people, many of them Americans, received a warm welcome by Gadhafi upon returning, sick with cancer, to his home country.

Many of the protesters present Wednesday were also relatives of the victims of the crash.

Gibson, who was 18 when her brother Kenneth James Gibson was killed, gave Gadhafi a Cross Pen with a note expressing her love for the Libyan people and telling him she’s been praying for him, Gibson said Friday.

“It was an experience that I’d been hoping to have since my first trip to Libya in 2005,” Gibson said.

In a spirit of reconciliation fueled by her Christian faith, Gibson has spent the past several years traveling to Libya in hopes of improving relations between the African country and the U.S. to prevent terrorism.

Her foundation, the Peace and Prosperity Alliance, has raised $25,000 for Libyan children with AIDS and last December launched an English-language training project in Libya.

Wednesday, Gadhafi thanked Gibson for her work in his country and approved of her suggestion of an American-Libyan arts festival to improve U.S.-Libyan relations, she said.

Though other relatives of Lockerbie victims told CNN that they didn’t understand Gibson’s desire to meet Gadhafi, Gibson says she has chosen to forgive and work toward mutual accord.

“I’m focused on that,” Gibson said. “It is my heart and vision that the next 20 years be focused on not the bad things between our countries but focusing on some good.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report