TRIPOLI: Libya has halted its oil deliveries to Switzerland and barred Swiss ships from its ports to protest the arrest of Muammar Qaddafi’s son in Geneva, a state-run shipping company said yesterday.
The shipments amount to 40 percent of General National Maritime Transportation Company’s business, its chief Ali Bilhajj Ahmed said, although he would not give a figure on the amount of oil involved.
He said the company’s response was appropriate, calling it the “least we should do.” The company says it is the only Libyan-based firm supplying oil to Switzerland.
The oil cutoff was Libya’s latest action in response to the arrest last week of Hannibal Qaddafi and his wife.
Police arrested them on July 15 at a luxury hotel in Geneva for allegedly beating two of their servants, according to their lawyer.
Libya has recalled some of its diplomats from Switzerland, suspended the issuance of visas for Swiss citizens, reduced the number of flights to Switzerland and has detained two Swiss nationals on various charges, the Swiss Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.
Switzerland, in turn, warned its citizens not to travel to Libya.
The Swiss Foreign Ministry and the Swiss branch of Libya’s state-owned oil company Tamoil declined to comment on the oil cutoff.
The Swiss Petroleum Associa-tion said the country could cope with a halt of oil deliveries from Libya, which it said account for 20 percent of Switzerland’s consumption.
The association’s managing director, Rolf Hartl, said he had so far not received confirmation of a Libyan cutoff. He said any halt in supplies would not result in long lines at Swiss fuel stations and that sealing off the Tamoil refinery in Collombey in southern Switzerland would take two weeks.
In addition, the amount of oil coming from Libya could quickly be purchased elsewhere, Hartl said. Switzerland also has oil reserves that could be used, he added.
Yesterday, the Libyan government organized a demonstration by employees of the Libyan shipping company in front of the Swiss Embassy in Tripoli. About 500 people chanted slogans and distributed flyers calling for an official apology to Qaddafi, his son and all the Libyan people.
The company also said Swiss ships would be prevented from entering Libyan ports and from unloading their goods.
The Libyan leader’s son and his wife were released on bail two days after their arrest and left the country.
