Eastern Libya authorities order EU ministers to abandon visit

The authorities in eastern Libya told an EU commissioner and ministers from three member states to leave immediately on Tuesday after they arrived in the main city Benghazi for planned talks.

Accusing the bloc's delegation of a "flagrant breach of diplomatic norms", the authorities who hold sway over eastern Libya said they had cancelled the visit and told the EU officials to "leave Libyan territory immediately".

The EU commissioner for internal affairs and migration, Magnus Brunner, said on X that "the meetings planned in Benghazi could not take place in the end".

"There was a breach of protocol which is unfortunate," an EU official said, blaming it on "a big misunderstanding" over which Libyan authorities they were due to meet.

The delegation had flown in from the Libyan capital Tripoli, where it held talks with the UN-backed Government of National Unity of Prime Minister Abdelhamid Dbeibah, which controls the west of the country.

Besides Brunner, the delegation also included the interior ministers of Italy and Malta, Matteo Piantedosi and Byron Camilleri, and Greek Migration Minister Thanos Plevris.

Straight after their arrival in Benghazi, the head of the eastern administration, Osama Hammad, declared all four men persona non grata.

He called on all diplomats and representatives of non-governmental organisations to "respect the sovereignty of the Libyan state", without elaborating.

Libya has been gripped by conflict since the 2011 overthrow and killing of longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising.

The country remains split between Dbeibah's government based in Tripoli and Hammad's rival administration based in the east.