Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on Wednesday presented Italy?s prime minister with a gun seized in a big battle against Rome?s occupying forces in 1915.

?This gun was captured by our grandfathers from your soldiers. We wouldn?t need it today,? Gaddafi told Silvio Berlusconi, according to Libyan news agency Jana.

Italy occupied the oil-rich North African country from 1911 to 1943 and suffered a bloody uprising in 1915 in the port city of Sirte, 500 km (310 miles) east of the capital Tripoli.

?I am a man of peace but I will keep it as a symbol of peace between the two countries,? Berlusconi said during his brief visit to Sirte for talks with the Libyan ruler.

Gaddafi, a pariah for much of his 34-year rule because the West accused him of terrorism, has won back much credibility after announcing last year he would abandon the pursuit of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.