Libya demands passports in Arabic

The Libyan government abruptly denied entry to tourists without an Arabic translation of their passports, forcing several planeloads of foreigners to turn back on arrival and stranding at least two French tour groups on Monday.

The change, which was not officially announced, makes Libya the only country in the Middle East to currently demand Arabic translations for foreign passports. Government officials could not be reached for comment Monday.

Eighteen French nationals were stranded at Tripoli International Airport since Sunday night, until France's ambassador to Libya intervened Monday and they were allowed to return home, French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Pascale Andreani said. Another group of 83 was expected to be allowed to leave later Monday.

The development reflects confusion in government policies, amid recent strides by Libya to promote itself as a lucrative tourist destination and to inch closer to a long-sought political goal of getting back into the West's good graces after years of ostracism.

Airlines whose planes were turned back included Swiss, Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines and British Airways. Jean-Claude Donzel, a spokesman for Swiss, an airline owned by Lufthansa, told The Associated Press the airline's office in Libya was caught unaware of the new rules, which came into force just hours before one of its planes landed Sunday. The flight returned to Zurich.

"A modification of Libyan regulations regarding the entry and departure from (Libyan) territory appears to have taken place on Nov. 11 without any prior information, and appears to have been retroactive," Andreani said.

The spokeswoman said that "holders of foreign passports in which the personal information is not translated into Arabic are no longer authorized to enter Libya or to leave its territory."

Germany's Foreign Ministry posted a brief note on its Web site saying that it "became known" on Sunday that Libya was turning back travelers at the border, even if they have a valid visa, unless they also have Arabic passport translations.

U.N. sanctions kept tourists from visiting Libya for more than a decade. Now the former pariah state best known for its eccentric leader, Moammar Gadhafi, is slowly opening its doors as it tries to shed its rogue state status.

The government has been pushing to promote its thousands of miles of pristine Mediterranean coastline, sweeping desert sand dunes and ancient ruins as a travel destination.

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Associated Press Writers Bradley S. Klapper in Geneva, Switzerland, Geir Moulson in Berlin and Jenny Barchfield in Paris contributed to this report.