LONDON, Jan 31 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David
Cameron arrived in the Libyan capital Tripoli on Thursday in an
unannounced visit to the north African country, his office in
London said.
Cameron is scheduled to meet his Libyan counterpart Ali
Zeidan, and then expected to hold a joint news conference, which
is expected to touch upon the threat of Islamist militancy
across the region.
"The prime minister landed in Tripoli earlier on Thursday,
and will discuss bilateral relations with Libyan officials," a
spokeswoman for his Downing Street office said.
Cameron met Ashour Shuail, the Libyan interior minister, and
visited a police training academy on Thursday morning.
The British premier visited Libya in 2011 along with then
French President Nicolas Sarkozy after rebels ousted former
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi with French, British and U.S.
backing.
Libya's nascent institutions have since struggled to rein in
armed groups, and the country's second city of Benghazi has in
particular experienced a wave of violence in recent months.
Oil producer Libya is keen to attract foreign funds and
expertise after years of chronic under-investment under Gaddafi,
and officials were last week irked when Britain issued a warning
urging its citizens to leave Benghazi due to an unspecified
"specific, imminent" threat.
(Reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian in Tripoli; Writing by
Mohammed Abbas in London; Editing by Andrew Osborn)