U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken indicated on Wednesday that the United States is "actively" working to resume its diplomatic presence in Libya, although he refrained from specifying a timeline for reopening the U.S. embassy there. During a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Blinken stated, "I cannot give you a timeline, other than to say this is something we are working very actively on; I want to see that we have the ability to resume a sustained presence in Libya." Blinken did not provide any details regarding the active work he referred to.
He added, "There is also an important moment, as through the work of the UN envoy there may be, and I affirm possibly, a way forward to move Libya in a better direction, including conducting elections for a legitimate government, and our diplomats are actively engaged in that."
Barbara Leaf, Assistant Secretary of State and Senior Diplomat for the Middle East and North Africa, is currently touring the region, visiting Jordan, Egypt, Libya, Lebanon, and Tunisia from March 15 to 25. The State Department stated that Leaf will meet with senior Libyan officials "to reaffirm U.S. support for UN-facilitated efforts to enhance consensus that leads to elections in 2023." The U.S. closed its embassy in Tripoli in 2014, and its members relocated to the U.S. mission in neighboring Tunisia following increased violence between competing factions.
