US President Donald Trump praised Libyans as “proud, resilient, hospitable” after his disparaging remarks at a campaign rally prompted a diplomatic protest from Tripoli and condemnation across the country’s political divide.
The conciliatory statement, posted on Sunday evening, stopped short of an apology and included a demand that Libya stop serving as a corridor for irregular migration.
“The Libyan people are proud, resilient, hospitable, and deserving of peace and prosperity,” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social, reaffirming Washington’s commitment to stronger relations with the North African country.
“We respect the Libyan people and the sacrifices that brave Libyans made fighting ISIS, the common enemy of both our peoples, but Libya cannot remain a corridor for illegal migration, and this must end now,” he said.
The remarks followed Libya’s decision to summon the US chargé d’affaires on Sunday over comments Mr Trump made a day earlier at a rally in Perry, Georgia.
Attacking Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff over immigration, Mr Trump accused him of sponsoring legislation to bring migrants from countries he described as “terror-infested”, including Libya, Yemen, Haiti and Somalia.
“Remember what I called them?,” he said, using a highly disparaging expletive.
Libya’s Foreign Ministry delivered a formal protest to the American diplomat over what it said were statements undermining the dignity of Libyans.
The Presidential Council said it had instructed the ministry to summon the head of the US diplomatic mission and demanded an explicit apology and correction. It said relations between countries should be based on mutual respect.
Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, who heads the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity, also rejected the remarks in a social media post, saying Libya’s sovereignty and its people’s dignity should not become material for American electoral disputes.
“We value our relationship with the United States on the basis of mutual respect, and we will not accept Libya’s dignity and that of its people becoming material for electoral disputes,” he said.
Mr Dbeibah invoked Libyans’ sacrifices in fighting terrorism, a contribution Mr Trump subsequently acknowledged in his statement describing ISIS as a common enemy of both countries.
The criticism extended beyond the Tripoli administration. Libya’s rival eastern government called for a retraction and formal apology, while a committee of the House of Representatives sought an official clarification from Washington.
The committee said the remarks diminished Libya’s standing. The competing administrations’ responses placed them on common ground in rejecting the insult, despite their wider political differences.
In his subsequent statement, Mr Trump backed efforts to unify Libya and its institutions and move towards national elections. He said Washington supports Libyans in restoring their sovereignty after years of terrorism and foreign interference.
He offered no timetable or new initiative to advance those goals, and did not specify what measures he expected Libya to take on migration.