Brussels, March 23: The European Union Wednesday further extended its sanctions against Libya, enforcing a UN asset freeze on the country’s state-run oil company.
But the EU move went beyond the UN sanctions by including five of the oil company’s subsidiaries on its sanctions list.
The EU’s secretariat, the Council, also announced a ban on all flights in Libya’s airspace and prohibited Libyan aircraft – or any other planes suspected of carrying weapons, “armed mercenary personnel” or other “prohibited items” – from flying in EU member states’ airspace, it said in a statement.
However, a diplomat told DPA that a “humanitarian clause” was inserted to allow humanitarian flights in and out the country and Libya’s National Oil Company (NOC) to continue supply electricity domestically.
Details of the sanctions – including the names of the NOC subsidiaries being targeted – are expected to be published Thursday on the EU’s official journal – marking their actual entry into force.
The bloc now has travel bans on 21 members of the Tripoli regime, including its leader Muammar Gaddafi and his family members, while the assets of 15 companies and 10 people – Gaddafi included – have been frozen.
—-IANS