WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama yesterday nominated a veteran US Middle East diplomat as ambassador to Libya, filling a post that has been vacant since Ambassador Christopher Stevens was killed in an attack in Benghazi in September.
Deborah Jones, a career diplomat, is a former ambassador to Kuwait and has served at embassies and consulates in Syria, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Ethiopia.
Her appointment to take over as Washington’s envoy to Libya comes six months after Stevens and three other Americans were killed in a September 11 attack on the US consulate in Benghazi. Political controversy has lingered in Washington over the initial US response to the Benghazi assault, with Republicans accusing the Obama administration of withholding information and the White House defending its handling of the matter.
Jones’ nomination was announced as Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan, part of a government in power after dictator Muammar Gaddafi was ousted in a 2011 revolt backed by a NATO bombing campaign, visited Washington for meetings with Secretary of State John Kerry and senior White House officials.
Tunis staff return
The United States yesterday allowed non-emergency staff to return to its embassy in Tunisia after a six-month ban, but warned that the security situation “remains unpredictable.”
In an updated travel warning, the State Department said, “the US embassy in Tunis is no longer on ordered departure status but continues to operate with limited staffing due to security concerns.”
Washington pulled most staff out of its mission in Tunis on September 14 in the wake of a series of violent protests and assaults on its outposts in the Middle East and North Africa marking the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The protests in Tunis caused “extensive damage” to the US embassy and a nearby American school was also set ablaze.Agencies
