CIA chief William Burns has met Libya’s interim premier weeks after the authorities handed the United States a suspect in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, the Tripoli-based government said Thursday. “Prime Minister Abdelhamid Dbeibeh hosted the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, William Burns” at the cabinet office in Tripoli, along with Foreign Minister Najla al-Mangoush and Libyan intelligence chief Hussein al-Ayeb, Dbeibah’s government said in a Facebook post. The move sparked a public backlash against the Tripoli-based government, which is challenged by a rival government in the war-torn country’s east. Libyan media have reported that Burns would also visit the headquarters of eastern military strongman Khalifa Haftar, Dbeibah’s key rival. Burns, CIA chief since March 2021, visited Libya in 2014 as under-secretary of state for the Middle East.

Source: Libya Today January 13, 2023 05:41 UTC