[size=18pt]Switzerland apologises to Libya[/size]

Swiss citizen arrests deepen Libyan crisis Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz has apologised in Tripoli for the arrest in 2008 of one of the sons of the Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi.
Two Swiss businessmen currently detained in Libya would be released "soon", according to a finance ministry statement.

"I express to the Libyan people my apologies for the unjust arrest of Libyan diplomats by Geneva police," Merz said in English at a joint news conference, according to AFP news agency.

Libyan Prime Minister al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi said the two countries had agreed on a "normalisation" of their relationship – a decision that was confirmed by Merz – and they would set up a joint committee to examine what he called the "tragic incident" in Geneva.

Relations between the countries have been strained since July 2008 when Hannibal Gaddafi and his wife were arrested in Geneva, charged with assaulting two domestic employees.

The couple were freed after two days in custody on bail of SFr500,000 ($470,000) and the charges were later dropped, but Libya responded by suspending oil deliveries to Switzerland, withdrawing assets worth an estimated $5 billion (SFr5.3 billion) from Swiss banks, ending bilateral cooperation programmes and placing restrictions on Swiss companies.

In its statement on Thursday, the finance ministry said both countries would set up an independent court to look into the circumstances surrounding the arrest, and that Switzerland was "prepared to apologise for the improper and unnecessary arrest of Hannibal Gaddafi and his family by the Geneva police".

Merz told a journalist from AFP that the Libyans had promised him that the two Swiss hostages would be released before September 1.

"Today I have fulfilled my mission and achieved my goals of wiping the slate clean of last year's incident and opening the Libyan market [to Swiss firms]," he said, before returning to Bern on Thursday evening.

"It is a satisfying outcome for me."

Oil supplies
Geneva's prosecutor dropped the case in September last year following the withdrawal by the plaintiffs of their formal complaint after they reached an undisclosed settlement with the Gaddafis.

Charles Poncet, a Geneva lawyer representing Libya, said on Thursday he was "very happy" that Bern and Tripoli had managed to overcome their differences. He added that a hearing on the civil suit due next month would be "suspended" as a first step and "certainly withdrawn".

Geneva authorities had rejected Libyan calls for an apology. "We have found that the rule of law was respected, that international conventions were not violated and in the final analysis, there was perhaps a problem of a lack of tact," the cantonal government president, David Hiler, said in January.

Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey last month said Switzerland intended to seek a meeting with the Libyan leader in order to help settle the dispute.

For Switzerland the dispute is "a matter of law, while for Libya it is a matter of honour", she said.

Another proof that this nation called Switzerland is shameless and has no moral fibre.

See simple diplomacy. Nigerians will not support this kind of move if the son of Yar'Adua is arrested for no good reason abroad. But when some hard core Nigerian criminals are sentenced to death for serious crimes committed, that's when the Nigerian will stand up with compassion and pride, asking Yar'Adua to do something.


Are you people seeing how to deal with other nations?

The power of oil money

anitawamah@yahoo.com
My name is miss Anita wamah,i am single and 5.5ft.How are you,
i hope your are find and in sound health.I went through your profile today and
i took interest on it.I am interested in your profile,Kindly contact me.
(anitawamah@yahoo.com)
I will tell you more about myself and picture.
Awaits your reply soonest.

nex:

See simple diplomacy. Nigerians will not support this kind of move if the son of Yar'Adua is arrested for no good reason abroad. But when some hard core Nigerian criminals are sentenced to death for serious crimes committed, that's when the Nigerian will stand up with compassion and pride, asking Yar'Adua to do something.


Are you people seeing how to deal with other nations?

Are you familiar with this story before you made this comment?