Negroponte to Visit Libya

Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte is scheduled to visit Libya this month, becoming the highest-ranking U.S. official to set foot in the country for more than 50 years (see GSN, March 14).

The trip is another sign of Libya’s return to the international mainstream since leader Muammar Qadhafi renounced weapons of mass destruction in 2003 (see GSN, Sept. 22, 2004).

In addition to stopping in Tripoli, Negroponte’s trip to Africa is also scheduled to include stops in Chad, Mauritania and Sudan.  He plans to focus on the Darfur crisis in Sudan, according to State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

Negroponte would be the most senior U.S. diplomat to visit Libya since Secretary of State John Foster Dulles traveled to the North African country in 1953.

The United States opened an embassy in Tripoli in 2006.  Despite Libyan requests, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has refused to visit the country because of a number of ongoing disputes, AP reported.

Among those is Libya’s refusal to make a final payment on a $270 million restitution package for relatives of those killed in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland (Associated Press/St. Petersburg Times, April 6).

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