Geneva, September 03: The Swiss government has called on Libya to honour pledges it made in an accord with Switzerland and allow two detained Swiss nationals to leave the country, the official Swisinfo.ch news website reported.
In a statement, Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz and Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey also repeated Switzerland’s commitment to complying with the terms of the deal aimed at normalising relations soured by the arrest of Hannibal Gaddafi, a son of the Libyan leader, in Geneva last year.
“The government is willing to restore the once-good relations with Libya … Given the currently difficult situation, both sides need to make efforts,” Merz and Calmy-Rey were quoted as saying in the statement.
Merz said the government was continuing to demand that Libya allow two Swiss businessmen, held for more than 12 months, to leave the country. Their departure has been blocked as a result of alleged immigration violations.
“The situation for them is unbearable and they are under surveillance,” said Merz. The men are in the Swiss embassy in Tripoli awaiting permission to leave Libya.
Two weeks ago Merz travelled to Triploi to sign an accord and to apologize for the arrest of the son of Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi. Hannibal Gaddafi and his wife were accused of mistreating their domestic staff during a stay in Geneva.
Merz was given assurances by the Libyan prime minister, al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi, that the Swiss businessmen would be allowed to return home by Sep 1. However, to date they have still not received the necessary permission to leave.
Under the accord, both Switzerland and Libya were to appoint their arbitrators for an international tribunal which is due to examine the circumstances surrounding Hannibal’s arrest.
–IANS–