Egypt and Libya on Thursday lifted restrictions on travellers crossing their common desert border that were imposed two weeks ago during a diplomatic row, the border authorities said.
Reportedly angry at Egyptian criticism over its unilateral decision last month to renounce weapons of mass destruction (WMD), Libya on January 9 started requiring Egyptians to present visas, work permits or proof of possession of 350 dollars.
Egypt, which relies on remittances from hundreds of thousands of workers in oil-rich Libya, retaliated with similar measures.
However, a border official said "all restrictive measures" affecting Egyptian and Libyan travellers that were imposed January 9 were "lifted from midnight on Wednesday" (2200 GMT).
"The Egyptian and Libyan authorities decided to return to the measures which were in place before between the two countries," the official said, declining to be named.
The move followed a high-level Egyptian delegation's meeting with Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi in Tripoli on Wednesday, though many of the restrictions had been eased in the last week.
Information Minister Safwat al-Sherif, speaking after his delegation's talks with Kadhafi, refused to attribute the restrictive measures to the governments of either country.
The measures "were perhaps misunderstood by some employees on both sides of the border," Sherif told journalists in Tripoli.
However, the officer in charge at the Sallum post, General Mosaad Hassan, told Egypt's state-run MENA news agency that the "cancellation of the restrictive measures came as a decision by the leaders of both countries."
Libya imposed the restrictions after Egyptian newspapers, including those run by the government, said Libya's unilateral decision on WMD weakened Arab efforts to force Israel to abandon its undeclared nuclear weapons program.
The newspapers then ran reports that Libya and Israel had held talks about the prospect of forging diplomatic ties, which Libya has denied. In addition, Mubarak himself was critical.
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