U.S. expected to lift Libya travel ban
Move follows nation's steps to dismantle WMDs
From Elise Labott
CNN Washington Bureau
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Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi told CNN last year that his country had no chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Bush administration is expected to lift travel restrictions to Libya next week as a reward for the nation's compliance with a pledge to end its weapons of mass destruction program, a senior State Department official said Friday.
"It's widely expected," the official said, but added "all of the t's aren't crossed and all of the i's are not dotted."
Secretary of State Colin Powell extended the travel ban in November, but for 90 days rather than the usual one year. The measure is up for review Tuesday.
The official said there "are a number of things under consideration we could do in response to what Libya has already done."
Powell said in a Friday interview with the Knight-Ridder newspaper syndicate that the Libyans "are doing everything they said they would do."
"We're very pleased with the progress," Powell said, "and we're anxious to move and move as quickly as we can, consistent with what they're doing."
Last week the United States dispatched a diplomat to Tripoli, establishing the first U.S. diplomatic presence in Libya in decades. (Full story)
Sanctions were imposed by the United States and the United Nations in part for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 270 people in 1988. Libya took full blame last year.
The diplomat was sent to assist the U.S. experts in the north African country who are removing weapons of mass destruction from Libya. The official is working out of the U.S. interests section of the Belgian Embassy.
Powell said in the Knight-Ridder interview that the diplomatic presence will "eventually go into something more permanent."
Libyan diplomats shortly could be in the United States, working out of their interests section in the United Arab Emirates Embassy, officials have said.
The decision to lift the passport restriction on Americans traveling to Libya followed talks earlier this month in London, England, among Libyan, British and U.S. officials.
The talks addressed the progress Libya has made in keeping its pledge to hand over its weapons of mass destruction, and what reciprocal gestures Libya could expect as a result.
In coming weeks, the United States is expected to send an American medical and hospital assessment team to address Libya's humanitarian situation and could welcome a team of Libyan educational specialists to the United States to explore future educational exchanges.
"The whole issue of travel permits, sanctions, relief and all the rest of that is laid out in the plan" that was discussed in London, Powell said Friday.
The Bush administration has said the United States will continue its assistance to Libya in dismantling its weapons programs, and could support economic modernization and other reforms in Libya.
