www.independentonline.co.uk Libya is preparing to welcome thousands of Western tourists into improvised desert camps, the best place in the world to view the March 29 solar eclipse as well as the former pariah state's bid for tourist dollars.

Tourism official Shaban al-Taeb said the North African nation was to dedicate its air and sea ports to the arrival of eclipse lovers from 47 countries, including Americans, Britons and French, but excluding Israelis.

Experts from Nasa were also expected, with special procedures in place to allow the solar observers to get their scientific equipment into the country that was off-limits to most sightseeing outsiders for decades.

Tourism minister Ammar el-Latif said: "Libya has the best conditions for observing the eclipse."

The eclipse "will be visible for seven minutes around Wao Namus, 2 000km south of Tripoli and four minutes around Battan on the northern Egyptian border."

According to Nasa, the total eclipse would be visible as it crossed half the earth, travelling from Brazil through northern Africa and ending up in Mongolia.

A partial eclipse would be visible along a much broader path taking in much of Europe, Africa and central Asia but the Libyan desert has what the United States space agency called "the greatest eclipse".

The Wao Namus area was reserved for "savants" while tourists would be flown and bussed to El-Bordi, close to the Egyptian border.

Event organiser Abdel Razak al-Rushed said that tent villages with a capacity for 7 000 people, described as "luxuriously equipped", had been put up in the desert to accommodate the tourists.

He said that the cost of the visit would be between 1 000 and 2 000 euros a person for a maximum stay of four days, including transfers to and from eclipse observation points.

The ministry of tourism had warned tour operators against over-charging during the eclipse and had mobilised five state-owned companies to deal with the unprecedented influx of Westerners.

A tourism official said: "Libya is not chasing financial gain from this event, but wants to rise to the challenge" and launched its burgeoning tourism industry.

Despite being home to spectacular ancient sites and unspoiled desert, Libya's tourist infrastructure was minimal after years of neglect, leaving the country's economy dependent on vast but ultimately limited oil and gas reserves.

But, since leader Moamer Khadhafi renounced his pursuit of weapons of mass destruction in 2003, Libya had slowly been welcomed back into the international community that was all too aware of its mineral wealth and now even had a ministry of tourism.

Nevertheless, years of isolation continued to handicap Libyan tourism, particularly in the form of bureaucratic obstacles that made entry, and sometimes exit, difficult.

Kheiri Bakir who runs a desert tourism business said: "Individual Libyan entry visas remain difficult to obtain."