By Ashraf Abdul-Wahab.
Tripoli, 8 February 2014:
Libyans planning to visit Morocco will in future have to have a visa.
Announcing the move, a spokesman for the Moroccan embassy in Tripoli told the Libya Herald that visas would start being processed on Monday. The decision, he said, had been taken as a “security precaution”, adding that he did not think it would affect the “strong, brotherly relations” between the two countries. Visas could be applied for both in Tripoli and at the consulate in Benghazi. The cost would be nominal, he stated.
The sudden announcement took Libyans by surprise. A source at the Libyan embassy in Rabat said today that it had not been notified and that the first it had heard about it was from news outlets in Libya.
A Libyan Foreign Ministry spokesman expressed unhappiness about the decision, but said it had to be accepted.
Morocco is the second country to impose visas on Libyans. Egypt did so shortly after the 17 February Revolution.
Moroccans travelling to Libya already require visas. [/restrict]
