Libya comes in one step from the cold as US allows travel

US President George W. Bush was planning yesterday to lift travel restrictions on Libya and take other steps to improve relations as a reward to Tripoli for scrapping its nuclear arms programs, officials said.

In the first tangible step toward easing US sanctions, Bush will lift restrictions on the use of US passports for travel to Libya. At the same time the administration plans to ease sanctions under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to allow US citizens to spend money should they visit Libya.

Sources said Bush also planned to clear the way for Libyan diplomats to work in Washington. The Bush administration has already re-established a diplomatic presence in Tripoli after more than 20 years.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said: "We continue to see progress being made by the government of Libya and we have said, as that progress is made, it will lead toward better relations."

In addition to yesterday's steps, the administration could ease the way for the sale of medical supplies to upgrade that country's hospitals.

Administration officials have also begun talks with key congressional committees about the possibility of providing direct aid to Libya, though dollar amounts remain in flux, congressional sources said.

Libya is eager to bring US companies back, especially in the oil industry, its main source of foreign earnings.

It is unclear whether Libya could qualify for direct development assistance, and the administration would have to take several steps first, including lifting trade sanctions and removing Libya from its list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Bush has seized on Tripoli's pledge to abandon its weapons of mass destruction programs as an example for other countries, including North Korea and Syria, to follow.

Unless Washington drops Libya from its state sponsors of terrorism list and ends its bilateral sanctions by April, Libya is entitled under a compensation deal reached last year to halve the US$10 million payout it has promised relatives of each victim of the 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing.