SWISS FOREIGN MINISTER MAY VISIT TRIPOLI IN "LAST GASP" \

2008-12-02 17:06:00 08TRIPOLI926 Embassy Tripoli CONFIDENTIAL 08TRIPOLI851 VZCZCXRO4123\ OO RUEHAG RUEHROV RUEHSR\ DE RUEHTRO #0926 3371706\ ZNY CCCCC ZZH\ O 021706Z DEC 08\ FM AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI\ TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4201\ INFO RUEHTRO/AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI 4723\ RUEHSW/AMEMBASSY BERN IMMEDIATE 0022\ RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 1328\ RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 0688\ RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 0832\ RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 0778\ RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC\ RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES C O N F I D E N T I A L TRIPOLI 000926 \ \ SIPDIS \ \ DEPT FOR NEA/MAG \ \ E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/2/2018 \ TAGS: PREL PHUM ECON EAIR SZ LY SUBJECT: SWISS FOREIGN MINISTER MAY VISIT TRIPOLI IN "LAST GASP" \ EFFORT TO MEND FRAYED BILATERAL TIES \ \ REF: TRIPOLI 851 \ \ CLASSIFIED BY: Chris Stevens, CDA, Embassy Tripoli, Department \ of State. \ REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) \ ¶1. (C) Swiss Consul Francois Schmidt told P/E Chief on December \ 2 that Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey intends to \ travel to Tripoli on December 5 for talks with as-yet \ undetermined Government of Libya interlocutors in what he \ described as "a last gasp" effort to resolve the lingering \ Libyan-Swiss contretemps occasioned by the arrest in Geneva of \ Hannibal al-Qadhafi, son of Muammar al-Qadhafi, in July. (Note: \ Schmidt asked that we keep news of the possible visit close-hold \ as it had not yet been finalized. End note.) The Swiss Embassy \ submitted a diplomatic note to the Libyan MFA on December 1 \ requesting meetings for Calmy-Rey with Muammar al-Qadhafi and a \ number of lesser officials, including Foreign \ Minister-equivalent Abdulrahman Shalgham and National Security \ Advisor Muatassim al-Qadhafi. Schmidt said Swiss Ambassador to \ Tripoli Daniel von Muralt had advised against the trip, \ cautioning Calmy-Rey that she could be "badly humiliated" if she \ decided to come. Admitting that there was "no agreed strategy, \ message or approach" behind the proposed visit, Schmidt said the \ Swiss Federal Government had nonetheless directed her to make \ the trip in the hope that it could rejuvenate Libyan-Swiss talks \ that he characterized as "hopelessly stalled". \ \ ¶2. (C) Schmidt said the situation had worsened since Libyan and \ Swiss members of a joint commission of inquiry exchanged copies \ of their respective drafts of a final report on November 14. \ The idea was that they would agree on language for a report that \ would be jointly issued to the public, which would detail the \ events attendant to Hannibal's arrest and mutually-agreed \ remedies. Ambassador von Muralt stressed in an earlier meeting \ with us (reftel) that the joint commission's report would likely \ be the next stumbling block in the effort to mend frayed ties. \ Schmidt confirmed that such had come to pass, saying the two \ reports were "miles apart" in terms of their interpretations of \ events and conclusions. Schmidt highlighted the fact that \ Libyan members had come away with completely different \ understandings of the testimony of key witnesses, and suggested \ that they had shaded their intepretations to bolster the key \ Libyan demand that the arresting police officers be punished. \ \ ¶3. (C) Lamenting that the GOL had repeatedly shifted the \ goalposts in terms of its demands for redress, Schmidt said GOL \ officials' latest demands were that the officers be "banished" \ from Geneva to other cantonments and that the Swiss prosecutor \ be investigated for legal malpractice. They had also recently \ stipulated that a public apology to be issued by the Swiss \ government as part of a grand bargain admit that Swiss officials \ had conspired to "deliberately entrap" Hannibal al-Qadhafi. He \ attributed most of the creeping demands to the personal \ involvement of Aisha al-Qadhafi and Hannibal al-Qadhafi in the \ work of the Libyan committee tasked with resolving the issue. \ In a positive step, all but two of Switzerland's citizens \ remaining in Libya had obtained exit visas; the two remaining \ are under indictment for alleged crimes in cases brought right \ after Hannibal's arrest. Swiss Air's station manager, who had \ been prohibited for over a month from leaving, obtained a six \ month, multiple-entry visa and a one-year residency permit after \ Swiss officials linked her case to that of the gravely ill \ daughter of a senior regime official, whom the family wanted to \ take to Switzerland for specialized treatment. In addition, \ Swiss Air, which had threatened to cease operating its one \ remaining Zurich-Tripoli route (landing permits for two of its \ three weekly flights were cancelled by the GOL after Hannibal's \ arrest),has decided to continue flying until year's end and \ will assess then whether to shutter its operations. \ \ ¶4. (C) Comment: Other EU missions have quietly questioned the \ Swiss approach to the ongoing kerfuffle, particularly Bern's \ decision to not/not solicit support from Brussels for a joint EU \ response to the GOL's pressure tactics. The fact that the \ reports of the Libyan and Swiss members of the joint commission \ of inquiry are so divergent with respect to what happened and \ who is at fault does not augur well. While high-level shuttle \ diplomacy with the GOL has worked in some cases in the past \ (witness French efforts with respect to the Bulgarian nurses),\ the consensus among the diplomatic corps here is that Tripoli \ believes it has the upper hand and will not concede much to the \ Swiss. The dispute highlights the extent to which the GOL \ remains a family enterprise, willing to go to extreme lengths \ over what amounts to a matter of face involving the abhorrent \ behavior of Hannibal al-Qadhafi. End comment. \ \ STEVENS \