Gaddafi bans most Europeans from travelling to LibyaCitizens from Schengen countries refused visas over row with Switzerland
Gaddafi at the UN General Assembly
Gaddafi addressing the United Nations last year. He urged the body to abolish Switzerland and divide it between Germany, France and Italy. Photograph: Rick Gershon/Getty Images
Libya's leader, Muammar Gaddafi, banned most Europeans from travelling to the country today in a sudden escalation of a dispute with Switzerland that has been running for almost two years.
The snap decision to suspend visits from the 25 countries in Europe that share the visa-free Schengen system meant that Britons, outside the passport-free zone, are still able to travel to Libya.
The decision caught EU officials by surprise. Tonight they were scrambling for more information and seeking to clarify the exact details of the travel ban, including whether diplomats would be expelled and whether business people and other Europeans resident in Libya would have their visas withdrawn and need to leave
The Libyan authorities summoned EU ambassadors in Tripoli today to inform them of the draconian move and the European commission announced that European travellers arriving in Libya with valid visas were being refused entry.
The European commission did not announce any tit-for-tat moves, perhaps reflecting the difficulty of making quick decisions in a union of 27 countries whose governments have differing views on the Gaddafi regime. The travel ban will have a bigger impact in Italy and Malta, the two EU countries closest to Libya.
"The issue will be discussed before the end of the week," said a commission statement. "The European commission deplores the unilateral and disproportionate decision by Libyan authorities to suspend the delivery of visas to EU Schengen countries' citizens. The commission also regrets that travellers who legally obtained visas before the suspension measure were refused entry when arriving in Libya," said Cecilia Malmstroem of Sweden, the commissioner for home affairs.
The Schengen agreement applies in 23 of the EU's 27 countries as well as in Switzerland and Norway who are not EU members.
A newspaper in Tripoli this week warned of "severe measures" of retaliation after it said that the Swiss government had decided to blacklist more than 180 Libyan leaders, including the Gaddafi family, from entering Switzerland.
The row goes back to the summer of 2008 when Gaddafi's son, Hannibal, was arrested with his wife in a luxury Geneva hotel for allegedly beating up their domestic servants. He was released and the charges were dropped. But the Libyans arrested two Swiss businessmen who have been held in the country ever since.
The Swiss foreign ministry today refused to confirm whether the blacklist had been drawn up, but said that it had tightened its visa requirements for Libyan citizens. Last summer the Swiss president, Hans-Rudolf Merz, went to Libya and apologised for the arrest of Hannibal Gaddafi but failed to secure the release of the two businessmen.
According to the Tripoli newspaper, the Libyans had told the Swiss to bin the blacklist or risk the European travel ban.
The blacklist is said to include the Gaddafi family, Libyan businessmen and secret service personnel and senior officials in the legislative Libyan People's Congress.
At Tripoli airport, a Libyan official told the Reuters news agency that the ban was being enforced. "This is right. This decision has been taken. No visas for Europeans, except Britain."
Muammar Gaddafi bears a grudge towards the Swiss because of an incident involving his son in July 2008. Hannibal Gaddafi and his wife were arrested in Geneva for allegedly beating two of their servants at a luxury hotel. They were charged with maltreating their domestic staff, but released on bail. The Libyan leader was so enraged by his son's two-day detention that he shut local subsidiaries of Swiss companies in Libya, had two Swiss businessmen arrested, cancelled most flights between the two countries and withdrew about $5bn (£3.2bn) from his Swiss bank accounts. Last year, he submitted a proposal to the UN to abolish Switzerland and divide it up between Germany, France and Italy.
