Washington - The Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, has authorised a trip by US consular officials to Libya as a prelude to deciding whether to lift a ban on travel there by US citizens, her spokesman Mr James Rubin said in a statement yesterday.
"The purpose of this visit is to assess safety conditions for American citizens in Libya," Mr Rubin said. "This consular visit is unrelated to the trial of the suspects of the bombing of PanAm Flight 103," he added, referring to the case against two Libyans accused of the Lockerbie airliner bombing.