CAIRO (AP) — Commercial flights between Italy and conflict-torn Libya will resume in September after the Italian government agreed to lift a 10-year ban on civil aviation in the North African nation, a one of Libya’s rival governments said on Sunday.
Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah, prime minister of the Tripoli-based government, said on Twitter that Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Italian government had informed his government of the decision.
He called the lifting of the ban a “breakthrough”.
The decision came after Libyan and Italian aviation officials met in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, on Sunday to discuss “the soon-to-be restoration of direct flights and the strengthening of cooperation” between the two countries, according to a statement. from the Italian Embassy in Libya.
Oil-rich Libya descended into chaos after a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. In the ensuing disarray, the country split into rival administrations in the east and west, each backed by rogue militias and foreign governments.
Italy and other European countries banned Libyan flights from their airspace as the country descended into chaos.
Over the past decade, Libya has had direct flights to limited destinations, including cities in neighboring Egypt and Tunisia, and other Middle Eastern countries, such as Jordan.
A Libyan government statement said the two countries agreed that one airliner from each country would operate flights from September. They did not name the destination cities.