LIBYA: European Union slaps weapons embargo on Moammar Kadafi’s government
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Following the lead of the United Nations, European Union officials in Brussels on Monday placed a weapons embargo on Libya and banned the sale of any equipment that could be ‘used for internal repression.’
The EU also said it would prohibit entry to 26 people linked to the ongoing government crackdown, including leader Moammar Kadafi, some members of his family and other officials. In addition, assets belonging to Kadafi, five of his relatives and 20 other Libyans would be frozen.
‘We can’t act in isolation,’ Catherine Ashton, the EU’s foreign secretary, said at a U.N. human-rights meeting in Geneva. ‘The international community is much more effective if it operates together.’
The U.N. Security Council voted 15-0 Saturday to impose sanctions on Kadafi and his associates. The sanctions freeze the assets of Kadafi, top aides and some family members, and bar them from traveling. They impose an arms embargo on the country, and refer the actions of the Kadafi regime to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Separately, British Prime Minister David Cameron said his country would be working with other allies to impose a military no-fly zone over Libya. In recent days, British officials also blocked nearly $1.5 billion in Libyan bank notes from leaving Britain.
‘It is clear that this is an illegitimate regime that has lost the consent of its people,’ Cameron told lawmakers. ‘My message to Col. Kadafi is simple: Go now.’
-- Henry Chu in London
