The United States wants to reopen an embassy in Libya, nearly a decade after suspending operations there.
In its fiscal year 2025 request to Congress, the State Department asked for $12.7 million “to enable a potential resumption of embassy operations in Libya, providing operational expenses for a planned Diplomatic Travel and Support Operations Facility as well as increased utilization of dedicated aircraft stationed in Malta for flights to Tripoli.”
“With Russia’s influence rising on NATO’s southern flank, U.S. presence with trips into Libya is vital to preserving our long-term security interests,” the budget request states.
To protect the embassy, the State Department asked for $44.5 million for start-up and recurring security operations in Libya.
According to CNN, a State Department official said Monday that the US is in “active negotiations for an interim facility that would provide appropriate security and staffing support” in the capital city of Tripoli.
The embassy in Tripoli suspended operations in July 2014 due to civil unrest, roughly two years after the attack on US facilities in the Libyan city of Benghazi. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed in that attack.