The United States resumed its direct diplomatic relations with Libya on Monday after a 24-year break, news reports reaching Cairo said.  

US Assistant Secretary of State William Burns made the announcement in Tripoli, capital of Libya, after talks with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and other Libyan government ministers.

Burns inaugurated a new US liaison office in Tripoli in what was the latest move by the US government to reciprocate for Libya's promise last December to dismantle its weapons of mass destruction programs.

"This occurs 24 years after the withdrawal of American personnel and the closure of the US embassy," he said. "Libya would be taking its own steps to establish diplomatic representation in the US."

The United States severed its diplomatic ties with Libya in 1981 and imposed economic sanctions on it in 1986 after a series of what the United States regarded as "terrorist" acts.

However, Washington announced on April 23 the easing of the 18-year-old economic sanctions imposed on Libya in reward for its abandonment of weapons of mass destruction programs.

(Xinhua News Agency June 29, 2004)