OTTAWA - Canada is reopening its embassy in Libya's capital, even as fighting continues in pockets of the country still held by loyalists of the hunted dictator Moammar Gadhafi, The Canadian Press has learned.
Sources say a small team of diplomats, led by Canada's ambassador to Libya Sandra McCardell, arrived in Tripoli on the weekend to conduct a security assessment.
Officials wouldn't comment on the state of Canada's abandoned diplomatic mission but said McCardell would have to deal with "refurbishing and securing" the premises.
The diplomats have set up shop at an alternative location in Tripoli, and expect to be joined by a full contingent of foreign service officers to get operations up and running, sources say.
Canadian fighter jets played a major role in the UN-mandated NATO-led bombardment to protect civilians from Gadhafi, who has ruled the north African nation with an iron fist for four decades.
Gadhafi's regime has crumbled but the dictator himself remains at large. From hiding, he urged his followers Monday to keep up the fight.
