Tripoli, 1 May:
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas who was due to arrive in Tripoli today from Tunis has cancelled his visit. He . . .[restrict]flew straight back from Tunis to Amman today. He is due in Ramallah tomorrow. Palestinian sources say he did so because of security concerns following this morning’s events in Tripoli when hundreds of armed brigadesmen surrounded the NTC’s headquarters.
It was announced last week that he would be in Tripoli for a couple of days to meet with Libyan leaders. He had been invited to Libya by NTC chairman Mustafa Abdul Jalil and was supposed to meet him for talks today at the NTC offices.
According to Palestinian foreign minister Riad Malki, Abbas’ visit to both Tunis and Tripoli was part of a tour of Arab capitals to assess views on negotiations with the Israelis and ascertain the level of Arab backing for them.
He arrived in Tunis on 28 April.
No date has yet been mentioned as to when he will come to Libya. [/restrict]
