U.S. Special Envoy and Ambassador, Richard Norland, held talks on Thursday with outgoing premier Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh to discuss “the current political situation with a particular focus on preventing any outbreak of violence,” according to a statement by the U.S. Embassy in Libya.
During the meeting, Norland urged Dbeibeh to “immediately” re-open Libya’s airspace to domestic flights, which has been closed for two weeks.
“As Libya enters what everyone hopes will be the final stages of interim governance, I emphasized the importance of participating in good faith mediation efforts to help Libya maintain stability and prepare for the presidential and parliamentary elections that Libyans continue to demand,” the embassy quoted Norland as saying.
1/3 Amb. Norland in #Tripoli: “GNU PM Abdulhamid Dabaiba and I discussed the current political situation with a particular focus on preventing any outbreak of violence. We also discussed the responsible distribution of #Libya’s oil wealth for the benefit of all the Libyan people. pic.twitter.com/iS7Gj6SMEC
— U.S. Embassy – Libya (@USEmbassyLibya) March 17, 2022