Britain has been urged to change its advice against all travel to Libya which it’s claimed is “out of date” and damaging to the country’s economy.
The Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office has “strongly” advised against visiting the country since 2014 when a civil war broke out between rival governments and still warns that “the local security situation is fragile and can quickly deteriorate”.
But former British ambassador to Libya, Peter Millett, who is chairman of the Libyan British Business Council, is now leading calls for Britain to follow Italy in downgrading warnings and alter the advice to reflect the improvement in the security situation since 2020 when fighting came to an end after a ceasefire deal.
Mr Millet told The National that after a recent visit, he wrote to the FCDO calling for the advice to be downgraded from red to orange, which advises against all but essential travel, in the cities of Tripoli, Misurata and Benghazi.
“That would be a more accurate and realistic reflection of the security situation on the ground, but it would also open up opportunities for more businesspeople to travel,” he said.
Mr Millett said that what he described as the “out of date” advice meant that it’s difficult to obtain travel insurance to travel to Libya where there is an “appetite for doing business with British companies”.
“The opportunities we are trying to pursue are massive but many of our members are not able to travel and cite the travel advice as the reason,” he said.
Travel insurance has been made “horribly expensive” as a result of the FCDO advice, he said.
“If you're a small and medium enterprise you probably can't afford the insurance and it's not worth it if you're not sure that you're going to get the business right. When we've organised our delegations, a number of our members have said that they are unable to travel because of the travel advice.”
Mr Millet said Libya “desperately needs economic reform and investment” which can come about through access to expertise provided by British companies.
The issue was raised at an Arab British Chamber of Commerce event on Libya in London this week. Mr Millet said Italy had changed its travel advice for Libya to state the whole of the country is safe “which has probably been done for trade-related reasons”.
He said that in his letter to the FCDO, he made the case that “the security risk is manageable” based on four trips he has made over the past two years with the LBBC.
“Now we’re not naive and we’re not saying everything is perfect,” said Mr Millett. “Of course, there are armed groups across the country and there is a risk of getting caught in a skirmish. But these are localised incidents, and the security trend is positive.”
Libya descended into conflict after dictator Muammar Qaddafi was killed in a Nato-backed uprising in 2011, resulting in the rise of forces backed by competing foreign powers vying for control.
The country was split between the Government of National Accord, based in the capital Tripoli and backed by Turkey, and an administration in the east supported by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, with the backing of Egypt and Russia.
In 2020 the warring sides signed an agreement for a permanent ceasefire but the country has since been dogged by political instability as it moves towards holding elections.
Daniel Kawczynski, a former Conservative MP with close ties to Libya, said he will be asking his former colleagues to raise the issue of travel advice in the UK Parliament.
“The Foreign Office with it's over cautiousness and their intransigence and trying to protect themselves, is putting British companies at a disadvantage,” he said.
“They do not take into consideration the opportunities that exist out there, but just want to always take the most cautious line.”
Mohamed Shaban, a British-Libyan lawyer, said travel advice was restricting Libya’s access to justice, particularly when it came to commercial disputes involving arbitration and human rights.
“As someone who represents the Libyan state as well as both British and Libyan individuals before the UK and international courts and tribunals, I’m of the view that FCDO’s current restrictive travel advice infringes on access to justice and may impinge on the veracity of judicial rulings,” he told The National.
He said that it’s difficult to reconstruct locations and events through video links which are often unreliable, while witness testimony can’t be tested if they can’t be interviewed in person in Libya.
“How can a judge or arbitrator be satisfied that certain facts took place if neither they nor the parties’ lawyers are able to conduct a site visit of where alleged incidents took place?,” said Mr Shaban.
“On access to justice in human rights cases, how can defendants of international crime or their victims be properly represented if they are unable to meet their British lawyers?”
Mr Shaban suggested the FCDO adopt a “creative solution” with travel advice into categories such as tourism, business, law and justice, and diplomacy.
The FCDO told The National that it regularly reviews its travel advice for each country or territory to ensure it includes up-to-date information and advice on the most relevant issues for British people visiting or living there.
