Kadhafi was speaking at the opening of a summit of the African Union (AU) he had called, which will be devoted to the issues of a common defence policy for Africa.
"Africa is making great strides to show that it is a liberated continent and not a continent of slaves," Kadhafi told more 40 heads of state and government gathered in the Mediterranean coastal town of Sirte.
"The Europeans have learned the lessons of the bitter experience of their colonialist past.
The US is called upon to abandon a colonialist mentality and take the road already chosen by the Europeans on the continent".
Kadhafi said that Africa possessed great potential and was "seeking new ways to enable it to face the challenge of the future".
Kadhafi opened the summit after driving along a red carpet into the conference hall in a small electric car, which was also carrying the Ghanaian, Egyptian and Tunisian presidents and Ethiopia's prime minister.
The conference opened the day after a senior US diplomat told Congress he remains concerned about Tripoli's activities in Africa.
"They promised to play a more constructive role in Africa ... but we still have concern about their role in Africa," US Assistant Secretary of State William Burns said.
Secretary of State Colin Powell cautioned Libya on its approach to Africa earlier this month and urged Tripoli to put an end to its "destabilising activities" across the continent if it wanted to improve wider relations with Washington.
Burns spoke Thursday as the US took giant steps closer to normalising relations with Libya by ending a two-decade travel ban, easing some economic sanctions and pushing for deeper diplomatic ties after Tripoli abandoned its weapons of mass destruction programmes. – Sapa-AFP.
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