Washington ends movement embargo on Libyan diplomats
Libya-USA, Politics, 2/12/2005

The US has ended a long time embargo it used to impose on the movement of the Libyan diplomats inside its lands.

This measure is in the course of the most recent development reflecting the warming of relations between the two countries since Tripoli's decision to give up its mass destruction weapons program in January 2003.

The spokesman for the US Department Of State Richard Boucher said that the Libyan diplomats in Washington and at the UN mission in New York can travel between the American states freely without any restrictions, noting that the Libyan government cancelled a similar restriction on the American diplomats in Tripoli.

Before taking this decision, the Libyan diplomats in Washington and in New York were banned from traveling beyond certain limits.

Meantime, Boucher was asked "with respect to North Korea, there's been a radio report that Libya's received enrich uranium very recently. And isn't part of the stipulation of diplomatic relations and warming of economic ties that, in effect, that they get out of this nuclear business?" Boucher said "Absolutely. North Korea's behavior, with regard to nuclear exports, has got to be of concern to all of us, and one of the issues that has to be on the table in terms of eliminating their nuclear weapons developments is eliminating any potential for them to export nuclear weapons-related materials."

Asked "About Assistant Secretary Burns' visit to Libya, he expressed to the Libyan Government growing concern over the case of Fathi El-Jahmy. Did the Libyan Government explain to them -- to him -- their position?Ê And can we expect anything positive from expressing grave concerns to the Libyans?Ê Did they promise anything?" Boucher said "I would leave it to the Libyans to describe what they may or may not do on this case, but it is a case that remains seriously -- of serious concern to us, and Ambassador Burns, when he was in Libya, raised the case of Mr. El-Jahmy. We have repeatedly raised those concerns very directly with the Libyan Government and we'll continue to seek resolution of the case. But as far as what the Libyan Government might do, I'd leave it to them to have to say."

Asked "Did you have clarity on exactly what has happened to him?Ê Because the human rights group reports that I have seen all say he was apparently taken back into custody in March, two weeks after he was released, but there doesn't seem to be clarity on whether he is, indeed, in Libyan custody." He replied "Well, our information is that he was released in March of 2004. We welcomed that, and I think the President even welcomed that when it happened. We then saw his re-detention in April of 2004, and that, his continued detention over the last ten months, is what we're concerned about at this point. We're not aware of any charges having been placed against him either. So, again, our belief is that this re-arrest and detention for the last ten months is a matter that we should be concerned about. There are also reports that he's in poor health. And so we continue to press the Libyan Government to release him."

The US said "One of the things that we've done recently is we determined that there was no longer a need to restrict the movement of Libyan diplomats who are assigned to the liaison office in Washington or to the UN mission in New York. The decision, as I said, was made in terms -- in the context of our improved bilateral relationship, and, in fact, in terms of the growing cooperation we have with Libya on counterterrorism issues. The recent improvements in our relations in this vein, including the decision to restrict the -- to rescind the restriction on the use of U.S. passport for travel to Libya, elimination of various Treasury sanctions and other things like that. Libya is similarly lifting its reciprocal restrictions on U.S. diplomats. These steps will ease our ability to conduct normal diplomatic functions in Libya and Libya's ability to do the same here."

The US said "our agencies sat down and looked at the restrictions on 25 miles and felt it was no longer necessary and could be lifted. This is not one of the terrorism sanctions. There are a different set of sanctions that are on Libya because of the terrorism issue, and as long as they remain on the list, we won't be able -- we would keep those in place."

Previous Stories:
  Burns, Qathafi fruitful talks: Washington confirms full normalization with Tripoli   (2/11/2005)
  Qathafi considered Bush's policy as acceptable except for the invasion of Iraq   (1/12/2005)
  Al-Qathafi: Libya contributed to Bush's re-elections   (12/18/2004)

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