By Libya Herald reporters.
Tunis, 3 November 2017:
The British have said that they are reopening an embassy in Tripoli after quitting Libya along with most other foreign diplomats in the violence that followed the Libya Dawn takeover of the capital in 2014.
No timing nor other details have so far been given. When the British pulled out in 2014 and relocated their envoys to Tunis, they had been operating the embassy out of Tripoli Towers.
The chancellory and ambassador’s residence had formerly been in Zawiyat Al-Dahmani. This building was attacked and burnt out in a May 2011 attack following a NATO airstrike aimed at Qaddafi. By that time, British diplomats had been withdrawn from the country.
This August, British foreign secretary Boris Johnson, on his second visit to Libya joined UK ambassador Peter Millett in hoisting the British flag at the building.
Diplomatic sources suggest however that UK envoys will be returning to neither of these locations but give no clue as to where the British mission will be located.
The UK will follow the Italians and the Turks in returning to the capital. The Dutch have also indicated that they intend to reopen their embassy. UNSMIL has already moved back. There are reports that the EU Integrated Border Assistance Mission (EUBAM) is also planning to return, though not to its former headquarters in the old Peacock Hotel in Tajourah.
