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Gunmen shoot ABB engineer in eastern Libya

A German engineer working for the Swiss-based ABB group and his driver were wounded on Thursday when unidentified gunmen fired on their car in eastern Libya, a security official said.

Published: 20 June 2013 19:27 CEST
Gunmen shoot ABB engineer in eastern Libya

The vehicle carrying four ABB Energy engineers — three Germans and a Czech — had been travelling between Ajdabiya and Zwitinah, where they were working on a power station control system.
   
The German was hit twice, in the chest and foot, and the driver, despite receiving a head wound, managed to manoeuvre the car to safety, the security official in Ajdabiya said.
   
Both of the wounded men were treated at Ajdabiya hospital before being transferred to Libya's second city Benghazi, 130 kilometres (80 miles) to the east, the official added.
   
Citing the other engineers, he said the masked gunmen had been on board two pick-up trucks painted in military colours.
   
Eastern Libya, where the uprising against dictator Muammar Gaddafi erupted in 2011, has seen several attacks against the authorities and Western interests, which have been blamed on Islamists.
   
Among them was a deadly assault on the US consulate in Benghazi on September 11th last year, in which Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed.

In 2008, a Swiss ABB manager was arrested along with another Swiss businessman in Libya under the Gaddafi regime.

The pair were eventually released in 2010 but only after then Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz issued an apology to Libya after Gaddafi's son Hannibal and his wife were arrested in Geneva for allegedly beating their two servants in a hotel. 

The couple were allowed to return to Libya and charges were dropped. 

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IMMIGRATION

Libya conference to be held in Sicily in November: Italy

A Libya conference will be held in Sicily in November, Italy's foreign minister said Tuesday, with talks focusing on an "inclusive approach" to stabilising the war-torn north African country while not fixating on a date for elections.

Published: 3 October 2018 10:00 CEST
Libya conference to be held in Sicily in November: Italy
The coastline of the Sicilian island of Lampedusa. Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP

The peace conference in Palermo on November 12 and 13 will aim to “identify the stages of a stabilisation process”, Italian Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi told the Senate.

The meeting would drive towards “a common solution, even if there are differences of opinion between the parties involved”, he said.

Four key leaders from Libya agreed at a conference in Paris in May to hold landmark polls on December 10 as part of a French-led plan to stabilise the crisis-hit country despite ongoing violence and deep divisions.

France, however, has faced opposition to the election timetable from the United States along with other European Union countries, notably Italy.

Milanesi said he had received “confirmation of interest” in the conference from Libyan military strongman Khalifa Haftar as well as support from the US, and was planning on discussing the dossier with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on Monday.

“No deadlines will be imposed on the Libyans, nor tasks dictated,” Milanesi said.

Italy, a key supporter of the UN-backed government of Fayez al-Sarraj in Tripoli, said in September it wants to “maintain an active dialogue” with all well-intentioned actors in Libya.

The Libyan capital has been at the centre of a battle for influence between armed groups since dictator Moamer Kadhafi was driven from power and killed in a 2011 NATO-backed uprising.

Sarraj's Government of National Accord has been unable to form a functioning army or regular security forces and has been forced to rely on militias to keep Tripoli safe.

Militias formed the backbone of the uprising that toppled Kadhafi.

Since then rival administrations, including one allied with Haftar and based in the remote east, and the militias have competed for authority and oil wealth in the North African country.

Accused by his opponents of wanting to establish a new military dictatorship, Haftar refuses to recognise the authority of Sarraj's Tripoli-based GNA.

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