TRIPOLI, Sept 20, 2012 (AFP)
TRIPOLI, Sept 20, 2012 (AFP)
US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns flew into Tripoli on Thursday for meetings with Libyan officials and a ceremony in honour of four Americans, including the ambassador, killed in Benghazi.
Burns met with Foreign Minister Ashur Ben Khayal on arrival and was expected to meet Prime Minister Mustafa Abu Shagur and Mohammed al-Megaryef, head of the national assembly, in the afternoon.
He will also attend a ceremony at 6 pm (1400 GMT) organised by the Libyan authorities in honour of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans killed on September 11 in an attack against the US consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi.
The assault was originally blamed on protesters angered by an anti-Islam film made in America but neither US or Libyan officials have excluded the possibility that it was a pre-planned operation supported by Al-Qaeda.
Benghazi, cradle of the revolt that toppled Kadhafi, is still prey to several loosely-organised militia groups with varying degrees of ties to the interim government.
