Don’t Even Buy Groceries, Americans in Libya Told

The U.S. State Department today warned all Americans in Libya, including American women married to Libyans, that they could face “criminal penalties” for buying groceries in violation of President Reagan’s sanctions order.

The Belgian Embassy, which represents U.S. interests in Libya, circulated the warning to American residents and posted copies of the State Department document in the Belgian Embassy.

Reagan’s executive order called on all Americans living or working in Libya to leave by Feb. 1. About 1,500 Americans are employed in Libya’s oil industry and an estimated 200 or more American women live here as the wives of Libyan citizens.

American oil workers and engineers and dozens of large and small U.S. companies figure prominently in the Libyan oil industry. Most of the individual Americans have not said yet whether they intend to abide by Reagan’s order.

The State Department note said Americans wishing for “humanitarian reasons” to stay in Libya past Feb. 1 must obtain special authorization from the State Department and a special “license to engage in a prohibited transaction” from the Foreign Assets Control Office in the U.S. Treasury.

These persons must explain in a letter to the Treasury exactly why they are applying for exemption, the document declared, adding:

“For example, American citizens married to Libyans who express a desire to comply with the executive order . . . but are unable to leave Libya because they do not wish to be separated from their Libyan spouse and children and must buy groceries and engage in other commercial activities of a personal nature, should set forth these details in the letter.”

In Washington, a State Department official confirmed that a special letter permitting a person to engage in such transactions would have to be obtained from the Treasury, the Foreign Assets Control Office or a comparable section in the Commerce Department.

An explanatory note accompanying the State Department document here said the order applies to all U.S. citizens and permanent resident aliens.

It said the executive order “provides for substantial civil and criminal penalties in the event of violation.”