Oil Shipments to Swiss Frozen After Gaddafi Son Arrested

Plus, all shipments from Switzerland to Libya have been barred, with ships unable to unload their cargo at ports. This after the arrest of Moammar Gaddafi’s youngest son, Hannibal; The Independent has the background:

“Gaddafi, 30, who has a record of run-ins with police across Europe, was arrested and jailed on 15 July after staff at the luxury Geneva hotel where he was staying alerted police to violent rows in his suite. Mr Gaddafi and his wife, Aline, who is nine months’ pregnant, were arrested and charged with maltreating their domestic staff. He was held in custody and later released on bail; she was taken to hospital when she complained of feeling unwell.

Tripoli reacted furiously, with Mr Gaddafi’s sister, Aisha, saying that Libya would respond on the basis of ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’

The Swiss Foreign Ministry said the Libyan government has already taken action, suspending the issuing of visas for Swiss nationals and forcing Libyan branches of Swiss companies, including Nestlé, to close. Two Swiss nationals have also been arrested on various charges – Switzerland describes them as ‘hostages’ – and Libya has cut back flights between Tripoli and Switzerland.

The Swiss said they had sent a delegation to Tripoli to explain the measures taken against Hannibal Gaddafi, ‘to prevent a crisis between the two countries.’”

Too late for that. Now comes the block on oil shipments, along with the state-owned oil company’s employees protesting outside the Swiss embassy in Tripoli. The Independent article, by the way, chronicles young Gaddafi’s history of hell-raising, as well as the rest of the colonel’s offspring.

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