WASHINGTON (AP) – Libyan diplomats can travel freely in the United States, the State Department said Friday, the latest sign of thawing relations between the longtime antagonists.
Libya simultaneously lifted its sanctions on travel of U.S. diplomats, said department spokesman Richard Boucher.
“These steps will ease our ability to conduct normal diplomatic functions in Libya and Libya’s ability to do the same here,” Boucher said. The two countries still have no official diplomatic relations.
Some other restrictions had been lifted earlier, after Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi agreed in late 2003 to abandon his quest for weapons of mass destruction.
Still other sanctions, in place since Libya became a charter member of the State Department’s list of terror-exporting states 1979, will remain, Boucher said. Those include restrictions on U.S. foreign aid, a ban on defense exports and sales, and controls over export to Libya of items that could be used for military as well as civilian purposes.
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