Foreign Relations of the United States, 1977–1980, Volume XVII, Part 3, North Africa

111. Memorandum From Secretary of State Vance to President Carter¹

Washington, December 5, 1979

[Omitted here is material unrelated to Libya.]

2. US Libyan Relations—Dave Newsom called in Libyan People’s Bureau head Ali El-Houderi this morning and told him that:

—we do not consider Foreign Secretary Turayki’s apology for last Sunday’s attack on the Embassy satisfactory;²

—you are personally and urgently concerned with the situation and want the Libyan Government to acknowledge responsibility for the incident and to provide compensation for the damage;

—pending these actions, we are suspending the operation of our Embassy and reducing the staff to a small group;

—this does not affect the status of the People’s Bureau here in Washington but it does cause us to think very seriously about the future of our diplomatic mission in Tripoli.

Dave also phoned the Libyan Ambassador to the UN who doubted that Libya would accept responsibility for the attack. He did, however, comment that his country would pay compensation, but felt that the two issues should be separate.

[Omitted here is material unrelated to Libya.]

1. Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Subject File, Box 22, Evening Reports (State): 12/79. Secret. Carter initialed and wrote “Cy” in the upper right-hand corner.
2. Turayki’s apology was not found.