Egypt, Libya lift restrictions on citizens travel
Egypt-Libya, Politics, 1/24/2004

Each of Cairo and Tripoli decided to lift the restrictions imposed since two weeks on the travel of the citizens of the two states at the al-Salloum border crossing between Egypt and Libya.

A source at the border crossing said that "all restrictions which used to be imposed since January 9th in the transfer of the Egyptians and Libyans between the two countries were lifted as from Wednesday evening."

The source explained that the Egyptian and Libyan authorities decided to return back to the implementation of what used to be enforced before, which are requirring the identification card or the passport for crossing the border.

These decisions came following a visit held by a high ranking Egyptian official to Libya including the Egyptian Foreign minister Ahmed Maher, the information minister Safwat al-Sharif, the chairman of the Egyptian general intelligence lt. Gen. Omar Suleiman and Osama al-Baz, the political advisor for the Egyptian President.

The Egyptian official TV quoted the Egyptian minister of information as saying after his meeting in Tripoli with the Libyan leader that "relations between Egypt and Libya are strong and solid and cannot be undermined." The decisions of the Libyan authorities to restrict the entry of the Egyptian citizens to the country came as a reflection in the relations between the two countries following Libya's decision to "develop programs on mass destruction weapons." Cairo criticized this "unilateral" Libyan decision, considering that negotiations over eliminating mass destruction weapons should be made collectively by the Arab states and should be linked to Israel's elimination of the nuclear weapons.

The Egytian opposition papers strongly criticized Qathafi and considered it as a position "that had weakened the Arab position " by taking this decision.

Previous Stories:
  Mubarak sends top delegates to Tripoli with message to Gaddafi   (1/22/2004)
  Mubarak: our relations with Libya are strong   (1/21/2004)
  Contacts between Egypt, Libya to solve visa problem restores normalcy   (1/12/2004)

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