Six Libyan ports have been included in a list of sanctions imposed by the EU following an agreement between all 27 member states yesterday to keep up the pressure on Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s regime.
The decision to blacklist the ports is designed to prevent the regime’s forces from exporting oil and importing finished products, fuel in particular.
The ports are located in Tripoli, Zuara, Zawiyah, Al-Khoms, Ras Lanuf and the oil terminal in Brega. They will only be allowed to operate for humanitarian purposes.
The European Union is seeking to further increase the regime’s economic isolation. With previous sanctions, it targeted dozens of Libyan economic structures, within the oil industry in particular, as well as people involved in Col Gaddafi’s clan. The sanctions included freezing the assets of the Libyan Investment Authority, which has substantial investments in Malta through its subsidiaries.
The EU yesterday also announced it would set up a task force for the southern Mediterranean to bring together expertise from the EU’s Foreign Service, the European Commission, the European Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and other international financial institutions to act as a focal point for assistance to countries in North Africa which are going through political transformation.
Commenting on this initiative, EU Foreign Affairs Chief Catherine Ashton said Europe would be judged by how it responds to the momentous events going on in its neighbourhood and the task force will ensure coordinated help is given to the region.
“The task force will improve the coherence of our assistance to civil society, to democracy-building and to economic reconstruction in this region,” she said.
The EU has responded quickly to the events of the Arab Spring, providing financial assistance and political support to countries like Tunisia and Egypt which are seeking to establish new democracies.
According to Ms Ashton, the EU was also working with its international partners, including the UN and the Arab League, to apply political and economic pressure on regimes such as those in Libya, Syria and Yemen, which were seeking to repress the democratic will of the people for change.