Italian Foreign Minister in Libya for visa talks

Mar 15, 2010, 18:20 GMT

Tripoli - Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini arrived in Libya on Monday for talks on ending the diplomatic crisis between Libya and Switzerland.

The crisis, which began with the questioning by Swiss police of Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi's son, Hannibal, in Geneva following a July 2008 complaint he had abused domestic staff at his hotel, has mushroomed into a dispute that has seen Libya threaten to deny visas to nationals of countries that belong to Europe's Schengen open border zone and to cut off petroleum exports to Europe.

Swiss businessman Max Goldi, first detained days after Hannibal Gaddafi's questioning, is in prison in Libya for visa violations. A spokesman from the rights group Amnesty International on Monday told Swiss media that Goldi's health was deteriorating in prison.

Frattini is expected to meet with Libya's top official for European affairs, Abdel-Aati al-Obaidi, Libya's state JANA news agency reported. It was unclear whether he would meet with Gaddafi himself.

Libya had recently announced it would deny entry visas to citizens of European countries belonging to the Schengen zone, following reports that Switzerland had prevailed on fellow Schengen countries to institute tougher visa restrictions on Libyans.

Libya subsequently allowed nationals of Schengen countries into the country, but later announced 'a total embargo on all economic and commercial exchanges with Switzerland.'

Last week, Libya made four demands that it said Switzerland would have to fulfill if it wanted to end the diplomatic row between the two countries.

The demands included the lifting of a Swiss visa ban on many top Libyans.

Days after Hannibal Gaddafi was questioned in Switzerland, Libya arrested Goldi and another Swiss businessmen, Rachid al-Hamdani, on visa charges. Al-Hamdani has since been released on appeal.