Libya–United States relations
Libya |
United States |
---|---|
Diplomatic mission | |
Embassy of Libya, Washington, D.C. | Embassy of the United States, Tripoli |
Envoy | |
Chargé d'affaires Khaled Daief | Chargé d'affaires Jeremy Berndt |
Libya–United States relations are the
However, for decades prior to the 2011
When the Libyan civil war broke out in 2011, the United States took part in a military intervention in the conflict, aiding anti-Gaddafi rebels with air strikes against the Libyan Army. With the success of the revolution and the overthrow of Gaddafi, US President Barack Obama said that the United States was "committed to the Libyan people" and promised partnership in the development of a new Libyan state.[3]
According to a 2012 poll conducted by
The U.S. began
History
Kingdom of Libya (1951–1969)
Following
Oil was discovered in Libya in 1959, and what had been one of the world's poorest countries became comparatively wealthy. The United States continued a generally warm relationship with Libya and pursued policies centered on interests in operations at Wheelus Air Base and the considerable U.S. oil interests. During the early 1960s, many children of U.S. oil personnel sent to develop the oil field installations and pipelines were allowed to attend the high school facility at Wheelus, typically riding buses from residential areas in or near Tripoli. Classes often had to pause briefly while large aircraft were taking off.
The strategic value of Wheelus as a bomber base declined with the development of nuclear missiles and Wheelus served as a tactical fighter training facility in the 1960s. In September 1969
Libya under Gaddafi (1969–2011)
After
Gulf of Sidra incident
On August 19, 1981, the
United States adopted additional economic sanctions against Libya in January 1986, including a total ban on direct import and export trade, commercial contracts, and travel-related activities. In addition, Libyan Government assets in the United States were frozen. When Libyan complicity was reported in the
In 1991, two Libyan intelligence agents were indicted by federal prosecutors in the U.S. and Scotland for their involvement in the December 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 near Lockerbie, Scotland. In January 1992, the UN Security Council approved Resolution 731 demanding that Libya surrender the suspects, cooperate with the Pan Am 103 and UTA 772 investigations, pay compensation to the victims' families, and cease all support for terrorism. Libya's refusal to comply led to the approval of UNSC Resolution 748 on March 31, 1992, imposing sanctions designed to bring about Libyan compliance. Continued Libyan defiance led to passage of Security Council Resolution 883—a limited assets freeze and an embargo on selected oil equipment—in November 1993.[citation needed] In March 2003, Tripoli secretly approached Washington and London with an offer to reveal the scope of its WMD programs. This led to covert negotiations in Libya, which in turn resulted, on December 19, 2003, in the country's public disclosure of the extent of their WMD research and capabilities.[8] UN sanctions had been lifted on September 12, 2003, after Libya fulfilled all remaining UNSCR requirements pertaining to the Lockerbie bombing, including renunciation of terrorism, acceptance of responsibility for the actions of its officials, and payment of appropriate compensation to the victims' families.[9]
Normalizing relations
After its public announcement of December, 2003, the Gaddafi government cooperated with the U.S., the U.K., the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons toward these objectives. Libya also signed the IAEA Additional Protocol and has become a State Party to the Chemical Weapons Convention.
In recognition of these actions, the U.S. began the process of normalizing relations with Libya. The U.S. terminated the applicability of the Iran and Libya Sanctions Act to Libya and the President signed an Executive Order on September 20, 2004, terminating the national emergency with respect to Libya and ending IEEPA-based economic sanctions. This action had the effect of unblocking assets blocked under the Executive Order sanctions. Restrictions on cargo aviation and third-party code-sharing have been lifted, as have restrictions on passenger aviation. Certain export controls remain in place.
U.S. diplomatic personnel reopened the U.S. Interest Section in Tripoli on February 8, 2004. In the same month, the U.S. State Department lifted the 23-year travel ban on Libya. The U.S. Interest Section was upgraded to a U.S. Liaison Office on June 28, 2004, and to a full embassy on May 31, 2006. The establishment in 2005 of an American School in Tripoli demonstrates the increased presence of Americans in Libya, and the continuing normalization of bilateral relations. Libya re-established its diplomatic presence in Washington with the opening of an Interest Section on July 8, 2004, which was subsequently upgraded to a Liaison Office in December 2004 and to a full embassy on May 31, 2006.
On May 15, 2006, the
Principal U.S. Officials included Chargé d'Affaires William Milam and Deputy Principal Officer J. Christopher Stevens.
The U.S. Embassy in Libya is temporarily located at the Corinthia Bab Africa Hotel, Souk al-Thulatha, Al-Gadim, Tripoli. The U.S. consular representative's office is also located at the Corinthia Bab Africa Hotel. Limited services are available for U.S. citizens.
2011 Libyan Civil War
Relations were again severely strained by the outbreak of the
The US military played an instrumental role in the initial stage of the intervention, suppressing Libyan air defenses and coordinating international forces in the establishment of a no-fly zone over Libya,[15][16] before handing command responsibility to NATO and taking a supporting role in the campaign of air strikes against pro-Gaddafi forces.[17] The intervention severely weakened the Gaddafi regime and aided the rebels to victory, with the fall of Tripoli in August 2011.
Post-Gaddafi Libya (2011–present)
The United States' first direct contact with the anti-Gaddafi opposition came on March 14, 2011, when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with National Transitional Council leader Mahmoud Jibril in Paris.[18] The US took longer than other leading NTC allies to formally recognise the council as Libya's legitimate authority, but it did so on July 15, and it granted accreditation to Ali Aujali as the Libyan Ambassador to the United States on August 15.[19] Later that month, the US led an effort at the United Nations to repeal parts of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1970 in order to allow unfrozen Libyan assets to be transferred to the interim government.[20] When the civil war came to an end in October, US President Barack Obama pledged to work with the new Libyan government as a partner, and said the United States was "committed to the Libyan people".[3]
US relations with the new Libyan government were thrust into the spotlight on September 11, 2012, when gunmen
December 2, 2013, the United States and Libya entered into the U.S.-Libya Declaration of Intent, a declaration intended to increase cooperation in law enforcement investigations and fulfill international crime-fighting obligations.[24]
On 27 May 2014, the United States advised all U.S. citizens in the country to leave immediately. Citing the unstable and unpredictable security situation in Libya, the United States also warned its citizens to avoid travel to the country.[25]
The U.S. Embassy in Libya was evacuated and closed on July 26, 2014. Embassy staff totaling approximately 150 personnel, including about 80 U.S. Marines, were evacuated overland to
However, the United States did not sever diplomatic relations with Libya. Working from the U.S. Embassies in Valletta, Malta and, after August 2015, Tunis, Tunisia under the authority of the U.S. Ambassador to Libya, U.S. diplomats in the Libya External Affairs Office maintained regular dialogue with the provisional Libyan Government.[27]
See also
- Foreign relations of Libya
- Foreign relations of the United States
- Libyan Americans
- Embassy of Libya, Washington, D.C.
- List of ambassadors of the United States to Libya
- CIA activities in Libya
Further reading
- Brands, H.W. Into the Labyrinth: The United States and the Middle East, 1945-1993 (1994) excerpt pp 178–83, 217
- Davis, Brian L. (1990). Qaddafi, Terrorism, and the Origins of the U.S. Attack on Libya. New York. Praeger Publishers. ISBN 0-275-93302-4
- Haley, P. Edward. (1984). Qaddafi and the United States since 1969. New York. Praeger Publishers. ISBN 0-275-91181-0
- Laham, Nicholas. The American bombing of Libya: A study of the force of miscalculation in Reagan foreign policy (McFarland, 2007).
- Ali-Masoud, A. T. I. Y. A. "America and the Arab World through the prism of the United Nations-A Study of Libya and Sudan in the Post Cold War Era (1990-2006)" (PhD. Dissertation, Durham University, 2013) online.
- Ohaegbulam, Festus Ugboaja. "US Measures against Libya since the explosion of Pan Am Flight 103." Mediterranean Quarterly 11.1 (2000): 111–135. excerpt
- St John, Ronald Bruce. Libya: continuity and change (2nd ed. Routledge, 2015).
- Stabin, Tova. "Libyan Americans." Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America, edited by Thomas Riggs, (3rd ed., vol. 3, Gale, 2014), pp. 101–109. online
- Zoubir, Y. (2006) "The United States and Libya: from Confrontation to Normalisation" Middle East Policy 13#2, 48–70.
References
This article incorporates public domain material from U.S. Bilateral Relations Fact Sheets. United States Department of State.
- ^ "US, Libya Pledge Cooperation in Attack Probe". Voice of America. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
- ^ Loschky, Jay (13 August 2012). "Opinion Briefing: Libyans Eye New Relations With the West". Gallup, Inc. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
- ^ a b Bruce, Mary. "Obama: Gadhafi Death Marks End Of 'Long And Painful Chapter'". ABC News. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
- Gallup
- ^ "Libya: international airstrikes and alleged civilian casualties".
- ^ "About this Collection | Country Studies | Digital Collections | Library of Congress". Library of Congress. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
- ^ "Guardian :: Muammar Gaddafi: A dictator or a freedom fighter? ::". Archived from the original on 2012-06-27. Retrieved 2012-04-08.
- S2CID 229169494.
- ^ "Security Council lifts sanctions against Libya imposed after Lockerbie bombing". UN News Centre. 2 September 2003. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
- S2CID 141633095. See p. 553.
- ^ Dolan, Bridget M. (10 December 2012). "Science and Technology Agreements as Tools for Science Diplomacy". Science & Diplomacy. 1 (4).
- ^ Colvin, Ross; Bull, Alister (25 February 2011). "U.S. to impose sanctions on Libya, cuts ties". Reuters. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
- ^ Mataconis, Doug (17 March 2011). "U.S. Pushing U.N. Security Council To Authorize Direct Intervention In Libya". Outside the Beltway. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
- ^ "Libya: UN backs action against Colonel Gaddafi". BBC News. 18 March 2011. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
- ^ Lawrence, Chris (19 March 2011). "U.S. fires on Libyan air defense targets". CNN. Archived from the original on 29 August 2011. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
- ^ Knickerbocker, Brad (19 March 2011). "US leads 'Odyssey Dawn' initial attack on Libya". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
- ^ Vanden Brook, Tom (4 April 2011). "U.S. warplanes taking aim at supporting role in Libya". USA Today. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
- ^ "Clinton Meets Libyan Opposition Figure". NPR. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
- ^ "Monday, August 15, 2011 - 23:06 - Libya". Al Jazeera Blogs. 15 August 2011. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
- ^ Charbonneau, Louis (24 August 2011). "U.S. asks U.N. to unfreeze $1.5 billion Libyan assets". Reuters. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
- ^ "Obama vows to track down ambassador's killers". Reuters. 12 September 2012.
- ^ "Libya leader apologizes for attack on US consulate". London: Associated Press. 23 January 2008. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
- ^ Grant, George (14 September 2012). "Benghazi airspace closed for several hours to enable US drone patrols". Libya Herald. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
- ^ "News from the Embassy | Tripoli, Libya - Embassy of the United States". Archived from the original on 2015-10-26. Retrieved 2016-06-22.
- ^ "'Depart immediately', US urges its citizens in Libya". US News.Net. Archived from the original on 29 May 2014. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
- ^ Ansari, By Barbara Starr, Joe Sterling and Azadeh (26 July 2014). "U.S. Embassy in Libya evacuates personnel". CNN. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Chiefs of Mission for Libya