Diplomatic Briefing
Your exclusive news aggregator handpicked daily!Archive for Libya
Newsline: Libyan PM lays wreath at London embassy siege site
Libya’s prime minister placed a wreath at the spot where a London policewoman was killed by gunfire from the Libyan Embassy in 1984. Abdurrahim el-Keib, who placed the wreath of white roses and carnations, has pledged that his country would work closely with the British government in a renewed investigation of the killing. A team of London detectives will be going to Libya to continue their investigation. Policewoman Yvonne Fletcher, 25, was policing a demonstration against Libya’s then-ruler Col. Moammar Gadhafi when an unidentified person sprayed the crowd with bullets, killing her and wounding 10 Libyan demonstrators. No one has ever been charged for the shootings. The incident poisoned relations between Britain and the North African state, leading to an 11-day siege of the embassy and a break in diplomatic relations between London and Tripoli. Fletcher’s killer has yet to be brought to justice, and the fall of Gadhafi’s government after last year’s uprising has reawakened interest in her case.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/05/25/libyan-pm-lays-wreath-at-london-embassy-siege-site/
Newsline: Belgium thinks Gaddafi laundered cash through embassy
Former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s family members may have used the Libyan embassy in Belgium to launder government funds before the country slid into civil war last year, a Belgian financial fraud watchdog said. “It’s more than a suspicion,” the watchdog’s president Jean-Claude Delepiere told Reuters. The Libyan treasury transferred about 1.5 million euros ($1.97 million) to its embassy in Brussels, which was then mostly withdrawn in cash, Belgium’s money-laundering watchdog said in its annual report. The Belgian Financial Intelligence Processing Unit searched the financial accounts of the embassy in Brussels at the start of 2011 after getting a tip-off from banks. The agency believes the money may have originated from Libyan organizations controlled by Gaddafi’s family. Following the start of fighting in Libya in 2011, the United Nations and its member countries located and froze about $19 billion in assets believed to have been under the control of Gaddafi or his associates, U.S. officials said at the time. In March this year, the Libyan government reclaimed a London mansion worth 10 million pounds ($16 million) from Gaddafi’s son Saadi, after a British court ruled it had been bought using stolen Libyan state funds.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-libya-gaddafi-launderingbre8430pp-20120504,0,821975.story
Newsline: Syrian opposition plans to set up embassy in Libya
The Syrian National Council (SNC) is making preparations to send representation to the Libyan capital of Tripoli in several weeks, a news report said on Tuesday. Libya was one of the first countries to recognize the SNC as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people after the meeting of the “Friends of Syria” in İstanbul at the beginning of April. The Libyan National Transitional Council promised in March deliver $100 million in aid to the SNC and stated that the Syrian opposition could open up representative offices in Libya. SNC’s Libya representative Enes al-Khalid said the Syrian Embassy in Libya was currently closed and that an inauguration ceremony for the office for the new mission would be held in a few weeks. In February, Syrian opposition members entered the Syrian Embassy in Tripoli and hoisted their own flag. Libya then asked the Syrian ambassador to leave the country, and Syrian diplomats left Tripoli following protests against the Syrian regime.
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-277711-syrian-opposition-plans-to-send-representation-to-libya.html
Newsline: Armed Attack on Ghana Embassy in Libya
Ambassador to Libya and his family are living in the state of fear, doubt and uncertainty as some unidentified gun men have incessantly attacked and robbed the residence of H.E Kodjo Hodari-Okae in Tripoli. The Ghana Ambassador to Libya recounted that two armed attack have been launched to his residence in the spate of two weeks. He said, in the early hours of Sunday the 35th of March 2012 he and his family woke up to realize that some people had broken into their house and made away with valuable properties belonging to both the Mission and his family. The Ghanaian diplomat said, as if that was not enough, while the police was trying to investigate the incident there was other gun attacks on the residency on the 29th March 2012. He stated that since the incident happened he had informed the Police in Tripoli and the National Transitional Council (NTC) but nothing practical had been done allay his doubt and also to guarantee their safety, though he was assured by the authorities of positioning security guards at the residency. He said all the assurances have failed to materialized. Aside the residence of the Ghana Ambassador which was attacked on two occasions, other foreign missions have been attacked including Lesotho, Kenya, Congo Brazzaville and Kinshasa respectively, and according to reports they launched a grenade attack on the Belgium Embassy. Ambassador Kodjo Hodari-Okae said, ‘’It’s difficult to tell. The situation is not something I can clearly define. Practically everyone has some kind of arms or weapon moving about with.’’ H.E Hodari Okine since the incident had moved to a hotel with his family per the advice from the Accra office, for fortitude and solace. He indicated that he had met with the foreign affairs minister of Libya over the issue and promised to ensure their safety and security, but till date he had not heard or seen any action from them.
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=235438
Newsline: Canada’s ambassador to Libya cleared of ethics charges
Canada’s former ambassador to Libya acted in an “ethical and transparent manner” during her posting in that country, according to a government report that probed her husband’s links to SNC-Lavalin. The internal review, by the Department of Foreign Affairs, clears Sandra McCardell of conflict of interest after her husband, Edis Zagorac, took a job with the engineering firm when it was doing business in the north African country before the fall of Moammar Gadhafi. McCardell has left her post and is awaiting a new deployment. “The main conclusion – is that Ms. McCardell acted overall in an ethical and transparent manner with regard to her spouse’s employment,” the report said.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/Ambassador+cleared+ethics+charges/6406872/story.html
Newsline: Libyan embassy retains DC lobbying firm
The first Washington firm to sign up with the Libyan rebels during the successful revolution against Moammar Gadhafi will no longer be working for free. The Harbour Group has signed a new $15,000-per-month contract with the Embassy of Libya, according to documents the firm has filed with the Justice Department. The agreement is set to run from March 1 to the end of the year. Richard Mintz, managing director of the public-relations firm, told The Hill that he and others at the firm are eager to help Libya transition toward democracy. “We are proud to have played a modest role in helping the Libyan opposition to replace 40 years of dictatorial rule. Now we look forward to supporting free Libyans in their democratic transition,” Mintz said. Harbour Group first signed with the Libyan National Transitional Council in April of 2011. The firm worked on a pro-bono basis for the council over the past year. It helped organize visits to Washington for council leaders and contacted think tanks and media on the council’s behalf. The firm helped support Libyan Prime Minister Abdurrahim el-Keib’s trip to Washington last month, where he met with President Obama, and is also working on having U.S. business delegations visit Libya. The new contract supersedes the agreement the Harbour Group signed last year with the council. “The Harbour Group is pleased to have been able to volunteer its services to the Libyan National Transitional Council and the Embassy of Libya for the last year in its historic efforts to establish democracy in Libya and to build new and important bridges to the United States. We welcome the opportunity to respond to your request to present this scope of services and budget to support the Embassy of Libya’s public diplomacy and communications efforts in 2012,” the contract says.
http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/219821-first-dc-firm-to-sign-with-libyan-rebels-is-rewarded-with-contract
Newsline: Gaddafi ‘hid arms in Libyan embassies’
The administration of ousted Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was running a covert programme to conceal weapons in Libyan embassies across the globe, a senior official in the new government said. The weapons included handguns, grenades and bomb-making materials and were shipped using the diplomatic bag. They may have been intended for use in assassinations on Libyan dissidents abroad, or for operations against the embassies’ host countries. The scale of the scheme is emerging for the first time now as the leadership installed in last year’s rebellion against Gaddafi takes over control of embassies and finds the arms, said Mohammed Abdul Aziz, Libya’s deputy foreign minister. Gaddafi’s officials shipped weapons to “many countries. In Africa, in Asia, in Europe. So it’s not only in two or three countries”, Abdul Aziz told Reuters in an interview. During his 42 years in power, Gaddafi was frequently accused of exporting violence. The 1988 bombing of a US airliner over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, and the 1984 shooting of British policewoman Yvonne Fletcher outside the Libyan embassy in London, are some of the most high-profile cases. The fact that Gaddafi’s officials were keeping weapons inside Libyan embassies as late as last year suggests he was still plotting killings abroad, even after he renounced violence in the 1990s and Western states restored diplomatic relations.
http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Gaddafi-hid-arms-in-Libyan-embassies-20120308
Newsline: Libya wishes reopening of embassy in Baghdad
Libyan prime minister Abdulraheem Al-Keib, in a letter to his Iraqi counterpart Nouri Al-Maliki, expressed desire to reopen the Libyan embassy in Baghdad. The letter was delivered by Al-Keib’s advisor Nasser Al-Manna’ during a meeting with Al-Maliki, a government statement said.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2222852&language=en
Newsline: Greek police say Libyan embassy in Athens surrenders cache of weapons, explosives
Greek police say Libyan embassy officials in Athens have handed over a large weapons and explosives cache, following instructions from the Libyan government. A police statement says the cache included 30 handguns, two submachineguns, 15 kilograms of plastic explosives, detonators, two hand grenades and more than 1,200 rounds of ammunition for various types of firearms.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/greek-police-say-libyan-embassy-in-athens-surrenders-cache-of-weapons-explosives/2012/02/21/gIQACoi1QR_story.html
Newsline: Gaddafi-era ambassador in Uganda stripped of role
Ugandan officials have stripped Libya’s ambassador of his title and evicted him from the embassy, saying he was an obstacle to new relations with post-Muammar Gaddafi Libya, the foreign minister said. The Libyan diplomat had to be evicted in order to accommodate the arrival in Uganda of a new representative, said Uganda’s Foreign Affairs Minister Okello Oryem. But the former ambassador can remain in the country, Oryem said. “He’s no longer the Libyan ambassador in Uganda. He can no longer continue to enjoy the status of an ambassador,” Oryem said. He denied accusations that the diplomat had been harassed and said that he was given police protection. Relations between Uganda and Libya prospered during the long reign of Gaddafii, whose oil money flowed into Uganda through the telecommunications and travel sectors. Gaddafi’s death last October put Ugandan diplomats in an uncomfortable situation: What to do with an envoy who did not want to go home and was eager to continue occupying his former office. The diplomat also kept the official residence, Oryem said, leaving no place for the new envoy when he arrived in Kampala weeks ago. The evicted envoy has expressed concerns that he could be arrested once he returned home, and Ugandan officials say the government may negotiate his transfer to a third country. Oryem said the diplomat had been stripped of his security and was now a private man. “I don’t know if he’s willing to go home, but he’s welcome to stay in Uganda for as long as he wishes,” Oryem said of the former ambassador. The decision to evict the diplomat was reached after Ugandan and Libyan officials attending a recent African Union summit in Ethiopia decided to formalize relations that had gone cold after Gaddafi death. The envoy’s refusal to leave had complicated Uganda’s plans to reopen its mission in Libya, with Ugandan diplomats normally accredited to Tripoli still holding out in neighboring Tunisia.
http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Gaddafi-era-ambassador-stripped-of-role-20120217
