One way to salvation

Update 10:50  Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz signed an agreement yesterday 20 August in a surprise visit to Tripoli, Libya during which Switzerland apologized for the “unjustified and unnecessary” detention of Hannibal, the son of Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffi. This puts an end to the ongoing dispute between the two countries that was detonated by the arrest of Hannibal and his wife in a Geneva hotel room in July 2008, where they were allegedly mistreating their servants.

The agreement allows two Swiss businessmen, who had been denied exit permits, to leave Libya, and all consular and commercial ties between the two countries will resume, including commercial air links.

Merz clarified on his arrival back in Switzerland that the apology was not for Switzerland’s legal system but only for the circumstances of the younger Qadaffi’s detention.

The agreement is not the end of the discussion over the incident at the President Wilson hotel in Geneva: the two countries have agreed “in essence”, according to the Swiss foreign affairs ministry, to “jointly appoint an independent arbitration panel to examine the circumstances surrounding the arrest of Hannibal Muammar Gaddafi and his wife.”

Swiss media largely view the government’s agreement as a capitulation, reports swissinfo (Fre).

Related: 20Minutes, NZZ, Romandie News

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