Libya summons the US chargé d’affaires over Trump’s “s***hole countries” remark; Trump: Libya cannot remain a corridor for illegal migration

Libya has taken a formal diplomatic step over Donald Trump’s remarks. On Sunday, October 25, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Government of National Unity in Tripoli summoned the chargé d’affaires of the US Embassy to its headquarters and handed her a note verbale of protest, asking for official explanations and a corrective step over the insult, as the ministry itself announced.

The trigger was Saturday’s campaign rally on October 24 in Perry, Georgia, where the US president described Libya as one of the countries “full of terrorism”. He also asked why the United States accepts migrants from Libya, Yemen, Haiti and Somalia and not from Norway, Sweden or Denmark, calling the four countries by a vulgar term, “s***hole countries”. Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah had already answered with anger, recalling that Libya is a sovereign state.

Tripoli makes clear that, as a sovereign state, it does not accept words that insult the dignity of its people or diminish its standing, nor that Libya and the Libyans become material for the election campaigns and domestic political calculations of others. In relations between states, the ministry stresses, the foundations are mutual respect, respect for national sovereignty and observance of diplomatic rules.

A reaction also came from Libya’s House of Representatives. Its Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Committee asked the US government to clarify its position on Trump’s words, speaking of “unacceptable characterisations” that undermine the standing of the Libyan state, as the Libya Observer reported. Relations between the two countries, it noted, must rest on mutual respect and common interests.

Trump’s softer follow-up

Later the same day, on Sunday evening Washington time, Trump returned with a Truth Social post in a much milder tone. “The people of Libya are proud, resilient, hospitable and deserve peace and prosperity,” he wrote, recalling the two countries’ common fight against the Islamic State, “the common enemy of both our peoples”. Immediately afterwards, however, he set a condition: “Libya cannot remain a corridor for illegal migration and that must stop now.”

In the same post the US president said the United States remains committed to strengthening bilateral relations, to the “long-awaited” unification of Libya and its institutions, and to the transition to national elections. Libyans, he concluded, have for years been victims of terrorism and “foreign interference” and must unite and “take back their sovereignty”.

The issue of migration from Libya was also raised during the Greek foreign minister’s visit to Tripoli, which dealt with the EEZ and migration.