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Swiss businessmen Rachid Hamdani (L) and Max Goeldi - Source: Reuters -
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Two Swiss businessmen left the shelter of their country's
embassy in Tripoli after Libyan police had surrounded the building
in a long-running row which has drawn in governments across
Europe.
One of two men, Rachid Hamdani, emerged from the building and was
driven away by Libyan officials, a reporter at the scene said.
Hamdani's lawyer said his client was heading by car for
neighbouring Tunisia after Libyan authorities gave him clearance to
leave the country.
Later the second man, Max Goeldi - whom Tripoli had wanted to begin
serving a four-month prison term for immigration violations - also
left the building.
A police source said that he would be driven to jail to start
his sentence.
Tripoli had issued a deadline to Switzerland to hand over the two
men, who have been holed up in the embassy for months, by midday or
face unspecified consequences.
The diplomatic row has raged at a time when Western companies are
lining up to invest in oil-producing Libya as the country emerges
from decades of international isolation.
It began as a dispute between Tripoli and Berne, but escalated last
week when Libya stopped issuing visas to most European citizens in
retaliation for Swiss immigration restrictions imposed on
Libyans.
Police numbers reduced
Both men had been barred from leaving Libya since July 2008, soon
after Swiss police arrested a son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi
at a luxury lakeside hotel in Geneva and charged him with
mistreating two domestic employees.
The charges were later dropped and Libyan officials have denied any
connection between the arrest in Geneva and the prosecution of the
two businessmen.
Hamdani is being allowed to leave Libya because, unlike Goeldi, he
has been acquitted of all the charges against him.
The reporter outside the embassy said earlier dozens of police
officers were outside the building, but later the police numbers
were reduced.
The reporter said he could see about 15 police officers around the
embassy, with five police vehicles parked about 30 metres away from
the embassy.
Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa summoned European Union
ambassadors on Sunday night to hand them the ultimatum, Libya's
official Jana news agency said.
The agency quoted the minister as saying that by giving Goeldi
refuge in its embassy in Tripoli, Switzerland had been in violation
of international conventions on diplomatic immunity.
"Procedures will be taken in the event that the embassy does not
implement what is required of it by the deadline," the news agency
reported.
No details were given of what action the Libyan authorities had
planned to take.
Last week Libyan officials announced that they had stopped issuing
visas to citizens from the Schengen area - a borderless zone that
includes Switzerland and most European countries.
Libyan media said the move was retaliation for Switzerland putting
several senior Libyans, including members of Muammar Gaddafi's
family, on a visa black-list.
European Union foreign ministers convened urgent talks with Libyan
officials to try to resolve the dispute.
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