Gaddafi calls for jihad (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Dostoevsky
- Start date
Libya to impose 'total' economic embargo on Switzerland
TRIPOLI (AFP) – Libya has decided to impose a "total" economic embargo on Switzerland, government spokesman Mohammed Baayou said on Wednesday, after Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi declared holy war on Bern.
"Libya has decided to impose a total embargo on all economic and commercial exchanges with Switzerland," Baayou said.
The country will "adopt alternative (sources) for medicines and medical and industrial equipment" imported from Switzerland, he added.
Kadhafi made the jihad call last Thursday over a recent Swiss ban on the construction of minarets, but this is just the latest salvo in a nearly two-year-old diplomatic war.
"It is against unbelieving and apostate Switzerland that jihad (holy war) ought to be proclaimed by all means," Kadhafi said.
"Any Muslim around the world who has dealings with Switzerland is an infidel (and is) against Islam, against Mohammed, against God, against the Koran," he told a crowd of thousands in a speech broadcast live on television.
"Boycott Switzerland: boycott its goods, boycott its airplanes, its ships, its embassies; boycott this unbelieving, apostate race, aggressor against the houses of Allah," he added.
His jihad call marked a new low in Libyan-Swiss relations, which soured in July 2008 when Kadhafi's son Hannibal and his wife were arrested and briefly held in Geneva after two domestic workers complained they had mistreated them.
The two servants, who were subsequently compensated by the couple, dropped their assault charges.
The row worsened when Libya swiftly stopped two Swiss businessmen, Rashid Hamdani and Max Goeldi, from leaving its territory.
Hamdani has since been allowed to leave Libya, but Goeldi is still being held.
Libya is demanding that those responsible for arresting Hannibal Kadhafi be put on trial.
At the time, Libya halted oil deliveries to Switzerland, withdrew its funds from Swiss banks and expelled Swiss companies doing business in the country.
In response, Switzerland adopted a restrictive policy on issuing visas to Libyans, which prompted a counter-measure from Tripoli.
It was not immediately clear what the embargo would mean in actual trade, which has plummeted since the spat began.
Swiss customs figures show that 2009 exports to Libya fell by 44.7 percent to 156 million Swiss francs (106 million euros), while imports plunged 78.4 percent to 718 million francs.
Wednesday's announcement came just hours after Libya protested against a US State Department official poking fun at Kadhafi after he called for jihad.
The Libyan foreign ministry called in the US charge d'affaires demanding "explanations and apologies" over the reaction by State Department spokesman Philip Crowley, the official JANA news agency said.
It added that there would be "negative repercussions on economic and political relations between the two countries if no measures are adopted."
The day after Kadhafi's call, Crowley said: "I saw that (jihad) report and it just brought me back to the day of September, one of the more memorable sessions of the UN General Assembly that I can recall.
"Lots of words and lots of papers flying all over the place and not necessarily a lot of sense," Crowley said.
Kadhafi berated Western powers in a lengthy UN diatribe, accusing the global body of failing to prevent millions of deaths as he demanded trillions of dollars in colonial reparations.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100303/wl_mideast_afp/libyaswitzerlanddiplomacyembargo_20100303192718
TRIPOLI (AFP) – Libya has decided to impose a "total" economic embargo on Switzerland, government spokesman Mohammed Baayou said on Wednesday, after Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi declared holy war on Bern.
"Libya has decided to impose a total embargo on all economic and commercial exchanges with Switzerland," Baayou said.
The country will "adopt alternative (sources) for medicines and medical and industrial equipment" imported from Switzerland, he added.
Kadhafi made the jihad call last Thursday over a recent Swiss ban on the construction of minarets, but this is just the latest salvo in a nearly two-year-old diplomatic war.
"It is against unbelieving and apostate Switzerland that jihad (holy war) ought to be proclaimed by all means," Kadhafi said.
"Any Muslim around the world who has dealings with Switzerland is an infidel (and is) against Islam, against Mohammed, against God, against the Koran," he told a crowd of thousands in a speech broadcast live on television.
"Boycott Switzerland: boycott its goods, boycott its airplanes, its ships, its embassies; boycott this unbelieving, apostate race, aggressor against the houses of Allah," he added.
His jihad call marked a new low in Libyan-Swiss relations, which soured in July 2008 when Kadhafi's son Hannibal and his wife were arrested and briefly held in Geneva after two domestic workers complained they had mistreated them.
The two servants, who were subsequently compensated by the couple, dropped their assault charges.
The row worsened when Libya swiftly stopped two Swiss businessmen, Rashid Hamdani and Max Goeldi, from leaving its territory.
Hamdani has since been allowed to leave Libya, but Goeldi is still being held.
Libya is demanding that those responsible for arresting Hannibal Kadhafi be put on trial.
At the time, Libya halted oil deliveries to Switzerland, withdrew its funds from Swiss banks and expelled Swiss companies doing business in the country.
In response, Switzerland adopted a restrictive policy on issuing visas to Libyans, which prompted a counter-measure from Tripoli.
It was not immediately clear what the embargo would mean in actual trade, which has plummeted since the spat began.
Swiss customs figures show that 2009 exports to Libya fell by 44.7 percent to 156 million Swiss francs (106 million euros), while imports plunged 78.4 percent to 718 million francs.
Wednesday's announcement came just hours after Libya protested against a US State Department official poking fun at Kadhafi after he called for jihad.
The Libyan foreign ministry called in the US charge d'affaires demanding "explanations and apologies" over the reaction by State Department spokesman Philip Crowley, the official JANA news agency said.
It added that there would be "negative repercussions on economic and political relations between the two countries if no measures are adopted."
The day after Kadhafi's call, Crowley said: "I saw that (jihad) report and it just brought me back to the day of September, one of the more memorable sessions of the UN General Assembly that I can recall.
"Lots of words and lots of papers flying all over the place and not necessarily a lot of sense," Crowley said.
Kadhafi berated Western powers in a lengthy UN diatribe, accusing the global body of failing to prevent millions of deaths as he demanded trillions of dollars in colonial reparations.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100303/wl_mideast_afp/libyaswitzerlanddiplomacyembargo_20100303192718
