Washington, Feb 21: Washington has decided to lift travel restrictions to Libya next week in a fresh gesture to reward the North African nation for scrapping its nuclear arms programs, State Department officials said. With Libya rapidly moving to make good on its December pledge to dismantle its weapons of mass destruction programs, the United States has been eager to show the country it will lose its decades-old pariah status.
The United States has already reestablished a diplomatic presence in Tripoli and had been widely expected to lift restrictions on the use of US passports for travel to Libya as the first tangible step toward easing sanctions.
The officials, who asked not be named, said the decision on the passports has now been taken. One official said the announcement would be made on Tuesday and could include another gesture such as allowing Libyan diplomats to work in Washington -- an idea both sides have floated as ties warmed.
''As Libya further cooperates, you have to give them a carrot,'' one official said. ''And if you want to send a message to other proliferators you have to show them that there are incentives out there.''
Easing sanctions could gradually allow US oil companies to resume activities in Libya, which they had to abandon when expanded US sanctions forced them to pull out in 1986. OPEC member Libya produces around 1.4 million barrels daily.
The Bush administration has kept Libya on its list of sponsors of terrorism but has seized on its arms pledge as an example for other countries, including North Korea and Syria, to follow. Bureau Report