Libya says Swiss must make move to end diplomatic row

Mar 11, 2010, 15:44 GMT

Geneva - Libya made four demands Thursday that it said Switzerland would have to fulfill if it wanted the diplomatic row between the two countries to end.

It also blamed Bern for refusing to neogitate on the matter.

The demands included the lifting of a Swiss visa ban on many top Libyans. The restriction extends to most of Europe, with Tripoli enacting tit-for-tat measures.

Speaking in Geneva, the Libyan ambassador to the United Nations, Ibrahim Aldredi, also said the fate of Max Goldi, a Swiss citizen jailed in Tripoli, was up to the courts to determine.

Aldredi was quoted by the Swiss news agency ATS as saying that Libyan courts were 'independent.'

The row dates back to 2008, when Geneva police briefly detained Hannibal Gaddafi, the son of Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi, along with his wife, after receiving complaints they were abusing their servants.

Libya arrested Goldi and another Swiss businessman, since released, on visa charges a few days later.

Aldredi said Libya wants Switzerland to put on trial those responsible for Hannibal's arrest and launch an investigation into a leak of the son's arrest photos to a local paper.

Geneva authorities say an inquiry into the source of the leak is already under way.

Switzerland must also agree to an arbitration commission to decide on penalties in the affair, the ambassador said.

After the Swiss imposed the visa ban on some 180 top Libyan officials, the elder Gaddafi declared a jihad, or holy war, against Switzerland.

Most economic ties, including financial services and oil, had already been cut, with more restrictions since announced by Tripoli.

Switzerland's decision to refuse visas to many senior Libyans was this year extended to the entire Schengen zone of free movement, which spreads across most of Europe.