Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat- Citing senior EU Officials, a high-level Libyan official has revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that Switzerland will withdraw in the next few days the black list which bans 188 Libyan officials from entering Swiss territories, among them Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Al-Gaddafi,, his family and senior aides, and the Libyan Government’s officials.

Talking by telephone to Asharq Al-Awsat in the wake of the sudden meeting which Libyan Foreign Minister Musa Kusa held in Rome yesterday with his Italian and Maltese counterparts Franco Frattini and Tonio Borg, the Libyan official said “we are expecting the Swiss authorities to withdraw this list the soonest the possible” and asserted that Libya would not review the decision it took before two days banning the EU countries’ nationals, apart from Britain, from entering Libyan territories if the Swiss authorities did not announce officially the withdrawal of this list. The official considered it his country’s right to take all the measures for protecting its rights against “the recent Swiss escalation” and noted that Tripoli was seeking in return to maintain good relations with the EU countries on the basis of mutual respect.

He described the Swiss list a big insult to the Libyan people and their leader Col. Al-Gaddafi, and hinted that Libya would ask the Arab countries at the Arab summit that will be held in Tripoli at the end of next month to take what is necessary for putting an end to “the Swiss arrogance toward Libya.”