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U.S. to Lift Most Economic Sanctions Against Libya
The United States plans to lift most Libya economic sanctions in recognition of that country’s decision to dismantle its weapons of mass destruction programs, Reuters reported today (see GSN, March 23). The Bush administration could make a decision as early as this week, though the review process could push an announcement to next week or later, U.S. officials said. The main sanctions included in the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and Iran-Libya Sanctions Act will likely be removed, officials said. That would allow U.S. companies to invest in Libya and buy the country’s oil. “We welcome this and we expect this to happen because this is why Libya has done all these initiatives and all these efforts,” Libyan Economy Minister Abdel-Qader Omar Belkheir told Reuters. Libya is expected for now to stay on the U.S. State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism, which means it cannot receive U.S. weaponry and faces other restrictions (Reuters/New York Times, April 20). Meanwhile, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said Libya will begin destroying the rest of its chemical weapons stockpile in the next few months (see GSN, March 22; Xinhua News Agency, April 20).
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