Switzerland upgrades relations with Libya
(AP) -- Switzerland on Monday upgraded its charge d'affaires in Libya to ambassador status, a move that the government said was aimed at "normalising" relations.
(AP) — Switzerland on Monday upgraded its charge d’affaires in Libya to ambassador status, a move that the government said was aimed at “normalising” relations.
Paul Koller, 47, has been Switzerland’s permanent charge d’affaires in Tripoli since 1997.
His nomination is “a further step toward normalizing relations between Switzerland and Libya,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Yasmine Chatila said.
In April, neutral Switzerland followed the United Nations in suspending sanctions against Libya, which it imposed in January 1994. National carrier Swissair has since resumed flights to the country.
The U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions in 1992 in a bid to force Tripoli to surrender two suspects charged with the bombing of an American airliner over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988. The tragedy killed 270 people.
The international sanctions were suspended after Libya allowed the two men to fly to the Netherlands, where their trial is to be held.
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