By Houda Mzioudet,
Tunis, 4 March 2015:
The Tunisian foreign ministry said today that the reopening of the country’s consulate in Tripoli did . . .[restrict]not represent a recognition of the Libya Dawn rebels.
An official told the Libya Herald that the Tunisian consulate in Benghazi would also be reopening shortly, but that this in turn did not reflect recognition of the Thinni government.
“This is about re-opening a consular office in Tripoli,” the official said. “ It has nothing to do with recognising the Tripoli or Tobruk governments at all”.
The Tripoli consulate, which opened for business yesterday, was there, he said, to look after the interests of the Tunisian community in the capital and western Libya.
The Benghazi consulate was closed in February last year and the embassy and consulate in Tripoli in the summer. The new consul in Tripoli Brahim Rezgui was the last consul in Benghazi.
Libya Dawn sources continue to maintain that Tunisia’s consulate move amounts to the restoration of full diplomatic relations. Majida Al-Fallah, a member of what remains of the General National Congress insisted this week to Turkish news agency Anadolu that normal diplomatic links had in fact been restored. [/restrict]