UN slams Gaddafi’s jihad call on Swiss

The United Nations and European Union rallied behind Switzerland yesterday after Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s call for jihad against the country, with a top UN official branding the move unacceptable.

Asked by journalists about one state calling for holy war on another, UN director-general Sergei Ordzhonikidze said: “I believe that such declarations on the part of the head of state are inadmissible in international relations.

“I’m not even talking about actions,” he added.

In Brussels, meanwhile, the spokesman for the EU’s foreign affairs chief said Gaddafi’s call was “unfortunate”.

“If these reports are correct... [they] come at an unfortunate moment when the European Union is working closely with Switzerland trying to reach a diplomatic solution” to a long-running battle between the two countries, said Lutz Guellner, spokesman for EU high representative Catherine Ashton.

France also called Gaddafi’s statement “unacceptable” and urged both countries to settle their differences through diplomacy.

Gaddafi turned up the heat in his country’s dispute with Switzerland on Thursday, calling for jihad over a recent Swiss ban on the construction of minarets.

“Jihad against Switzerland, against Zionism, against foreign aggression is not terrorism,” Gaddafi said in a speech in the city of Benghazi to mark the birthday of the Muslim prophet Mohammed yesterday.

The call marked a new low in Libyan-Swiss relations, which soured in July 2008 when Gaddafi’s son Hannibal and his wife were arrested and briefly held in Geneva after two domestic workers complained they had mistreated them.

The row escalated when Libya swiftly stopped two Swiss businessmen, Rashid Hamdani and Max Goeldi, from leaving its territory.

Both men were convicted of overstaying their visas and of engaging in illegal business activities.

Hamdani’s conviction was overturned in January, and he has now returned home, while Goeldi surrendered to authorities this week and is now serving a reduced sentence of four months.

The Libyans and Swiss have been holding talks, with Switzerland seeking Goeldi’s release, while both countries are imposing visa restrictions on each other’s nationals.

For the director of the Geneva-based Study and Research Centre for the Arab and Mediterranean World, Hasni Abidi, Gaddafi’s latest offensive is “bad news for Switzerland”.

“This shows that the Libyan colonel is extremely biased against Switzerland and the conservative clan hostile to normalisation with Bern is stronger than the reformers,” he said.