EU imposed sanctions on three companies for their violation of Libya arms embargo
Diplomatic sources informed AFP that the European Union on Monday imposed sanctions on three companies, including one Turkish, one Kazakh, and one Jordanian, for violating the UN arms embargo on Libya.
In this context, Foreign ministers from the bloc have signed at a regular meeting in Brussels on the measures that freeze any EU assets maintained by the companies and also making them away from the EU financial markets and preventing them from doing business with anybody in the bloc.
Furthermore, the sanctions have been also imposed on two individuals who were providing material to Libya, where the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) has been attacked by General Khalifa Haftar, who controls a competitive administration in the east.
The EU has a marine mission that working in waters newt to Libya and is surveilling the embargo and collecting information on violators, however, the measures of Monday constitute the first bloc independent sanctions linked to the conflict.
It should be noted that Libya has suffered almost a decade of intense disorder since the 2011 NATO-backed rebellion that stopped and killed veteran dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Nevertheless, there have been indications of improvement, when representatives from the two sides were gathering for peace discussions in Morocco after the announcement last month a ceasefire and promising to make national elections. When he arrived for the foreign minister’s discussions, EU diplomatic chief Josep Borrell reported: After many months I see a reason for cautious optimism. There is positive momentum, there is a ceasefire and we need to use it.
Otherwise, the targeting of a Turkish company threatens to inflame the tensed ties between Ankara and the EU after the recent flare-up in the eastern Mediterranean about the reserves of the oil and the gas.
