WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Colin Powell said Friday he had decided last week to renew two-decade-old ban on the use of US passports for travel to Libya because of "imminent danger" to Americans in the country.
Powell said the elevated threat conditions in Libya, which first prompted the imposition of the restriction in 1981, remained unchanged and led him to extend the ban on November 22 to prevent it from expiring two days later.
"This restriction has been renewed yearly because of the unsettled relations between the United States and the government of Libya and the possibility of hostile acts against Americans in Libya," he said.
"The American Embassy in Tripoli remains closed, thus preventing the United States from providing routine diplomatic protection or consular assistance to Americans who may travel to Libya," Powell said in a notice published in the Federal Register, a government gazette.
"In light of these events and circumstances, I have determined that Libya continues to be an area where there is imminent danger to the public health or physical safety of United States travelers," he said.
The State Department announced last Friday that Powell had renewed the ban but offered no explanation for the move, saying only that he had "again chosen to extend the restriction on the use of US passports for travel to Libya."
"All US passports will remain invalid for travel to, in, or through Libya unless specifically validated for that purpose," deputy department spokesman Philip Reeker said in a statement then.
He added that the latest renewal would expire at midnight on November 24, 2003 unless extended again or revoked by special order before then.
Three days after Powell extended the ban, Libya angrily denounced the move, saying it made "no sense."
The decision makes "no sense, especially since Libyan towns are safer than American towns," foreign ministry spokesman Hassuna Shawush said in Tripoli.
Libya is one of seven countries deemed by Washington to be a "state sponsor of terrorism" and as such is subject to numerous US economic and military sanctions.
It continues to be so designated despite the State Department's acknowledgement in its annual "Patterns of Global Terrorism" report that Libya has made progress in the area and its recent offers to compensate the families of victims of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, for which a Libyan agent was found guilty.
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