UK HM Treasury lifts asset freeze on Libyan govt agency ODAC (Organisation for Development of Administrative Centres)

Financial Sanctions Notice

                                                                                            23/01/2013

Libya

Council Implementing Regulation (EU) No 50/2013

This notice is issued in respect of the asset freezing measures relating to Libya.

1. With the publication of  Council  Implementing Regulation  (EU) No  50/2013 of  22 January

2013 in the Official Journal of the European Union (O.J. L20,  23.01.2013, p.29) on  23

January 2013, the Council of the European Union has amended Annexes II and III to Council 

Regulation (EU) No 204/2011 [“Regulation 204/2011”], with effect from 23 January 2013.

2. Those persons, groups and entities listed in Annexes II and III are subject to the freezing of 

funds and economic resources provisions contained in Regulation 204/2011.

3. Annex II to Regulation 204/2011 lists the persons, groups and entities identified in United 

Nations Security Council Resolution 1970 or designated by the competent UN Sanctions 

Committee.

4. Annex III to Regulation  204/2011  lists the persons, groups and entities identified by the 

Council of the European Union.

5. The amendments take the form of the removal of one entity from Annex III and amendments 

to the identifying information of a number of existing entries in Annexes II and III.

6. The entity removed from Annex III is no longer subject to the asset freeze imposed by 

Regulation 204/2011.

7. Details of the changes are set out in the Annex to this notice.

8. The Treasury’s Consolidated List of persons subject to financial sanctions in effect in the UK, 

which is maintained on the Treasury website, has been updated to reflect the removal and 

amendments.2

Reporting requirements 

9. Relevant institutions and other persons are requested to check whether they maintain any 

accounts or otherwise hold any funds or economic resources for the persons set out in the 

Annex to this notice whose details have been amended. If so, they must freeze such accounts 

or other funds and, unless licensed by the Treasury, refrain from dealing with the funds or 

making them available to such persons. 

10.Relevant institutions must report their findings to the Treasury, together with any additional 

information that would facilitate compliance with Regulation 204/2011. 

11. Where a relevant institution has already reported details of accounts, other funds or 

economic resources held frozen for designated persons, they are not required to report these 

details again.

Other information

12. A copy of Council Implementing Regulation (EU) No 50/2013 can be obtained from the 

Official Journal of the European Union website at:

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2013:020:0029:0032:EN:PDF

13. Copies of relevant Releases, certain EU Regulations, UNSC Resolutions and UK legislation can 

be obtained from the Libya regime page on the  Financial  Sanctions pages of the Treasury 

website:  http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/fin_sanctions_libya.htm.

Enquiries

14. Non-media enquiries, reports and licence applications should be addressed to:

Sanctions and Illicit Finance

Asset Freezing Unit
HM Treasury
1 Horse Guards Road
London SW1A 2HQ
E-mail: AFU@hmtreasury.gsi.gov.uk

15.Media enquiries should be addressed to the Treasury Press Office on 020 7270 5238.
HM Treasury
23/01/201323/01/2013

ANNEX

FINANCIAL SANCTIONS: LIBYA
COUNCIL IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) NO 50/2013
AMENDING ANNEXES II AND III TO COUNCIL REGULATION (EU) NO 204/2011
DELETION

Entity

1. ORGANISATION FOR DEVELOPMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE CENTRES (ODAC)
Other Information: EU listing. Not UN. Entity acting on behalf of or at the direction of the
Qadhafi Regime and a potential source of funding for the regime. ODAC has facilitated
thousands of government funded infrastructure projects. www.odac-libya.com
Group ID: 12034.
AMENDMENTS
Individuals

1. AL KUNI, Amid, Husain
Title: Colonel  
Position: Governor of Ghat (South Libya)
Other Information: EU listing. Not UN. Directly involved in recruiting mercenaries.
Believed to be in South Libya

2. AL-BAGHDADI, Abdulqader, Mohammed
Title: Dr
DOB: 01/07/1950
Passport Details: B010574
Position: Head of the Liaison Office of the Revolutionary Committees
Other Information: EU listing. Not UN. Revolutionary Committees involved in violence
against demonstrators.
Group ID: 11773.
Believed to be in jail in Tunisia

3. AL-BARASSI, Safia, Farkash
DOB: --/--/1952
POB: Al Bayda, Libya
Other Information: UN listing. Wife of Muammar Qadhafi
Group ID: 11655.
since 1970. Closeness of
association with regime. Significant personal wealth. Believed to be in Algeria. Her sister
Fatima Farkash is married to Abdallah Sanussi.

4. JABIR, Abu Bakr, Yunis
Title: Major General
Group ID: 11642. 2
DOB: --/--/1952
POB: Jalo, Libya
Position: Defence Minister
Other Information: UN listing. Believed deceased

5. MATUQ, Matuq, Mohammed
DOB: --/--/1956
POB: Khoms, Libya
Position: Secretary for Utilities
Other Information: UN listing.
Group ID: 11658.
Status/location unknown, believed captured

6. QADHAFI, Aisha, Muammar
DOB: --/--/1978
POB: Tripoli, Libya
Other Information: UN listing. Daughter of Muammar Qadhafi. Closeness of association
with regime.
Group ID: 11659.
Believed to be in Algeria

7. QADHAFI, Hannibal, Muammar
DOB: 20/09/1975
POB: Tripoli, Libya
Passport Details: B/002210
Other Information: UN listing. Son of Muammar Qadhafi. Closeness of association with
regime.
Group ID: 11635
Believed to be in Algeria

8. QADHAFI, Khamis, Muammar
DOB: --/--/1978
POB: Tripoli, Libya
Other Information: UN listing. Son of Muammar Qadhafi. Closeness of association with
regime. Command of military units involved in repression of demonstrations.
Group ID: 11636.
Believed
deceased.

9. QADHAFI, Mohammed, Muammar
DOB: --/--/1970
POB: Tripoli, Libya
Other Information: UN listing. Son of Muammar Qadhafi. Closeness of association with
regime.
Group ID: 11637.
Believed to be in Algeria

10. QADHAFI, Muammar, Mohammed, Abu Minyar
DOB: --/--/1942
POB: Sirte, Libya
Position: Leader of the Revolution. Supreme Commander of Armed Forces
Other Information: UN listing. Responsibility for ordering repression of demonstrations,
human rights abuses.
Group ID: 11647.
Believed deceased.
Group ID: 11638. 3

11. QADHAFI, Mutassim
DOB: --/--/1976
POB: Tripoli, Libya
Position: National Security Adviser
Other Information: UN listing. Son of Muammar Qadhafi. Closeness of association with
regime. Believed deceased.

12. QADHAFI, Saadi
DOB:
Group ID: 11639.
(1) 27/05/1973
          (2) 01/01/1975
POB: Tripoli, Libya
Passport Details: (1) 014797
                             (2) 524521
Position: Commander Special Forces
Other Information: UN listing. Son of Muammar Qadhafi. Closeness of association with
regime. Command of military units involved in repression of demonstrations. Believed to
be in Niger

13. QADHAFI, Saif, Al-Arab
DOB: --/--/1982
POB: Tripoli, Libya
Other Information: UN listing. Son of Muammar Qadhafi. Closeness of association with
regime.
Group ID: 11648.
Believed deceased

14. QADHAFI, Saif Al-Islam
DOB: 25/06/1972
POB: Tripoli, Libya
Passport Details: B014995
Position: Director Qadhafi Foundation
Other Information: UN listing. Son of Muammar Qadhafi. Closeness of association with
regime. Inflammatory public statements encouraging violence against demonstrators.
Group ID: 11649.
Believed in custody in Libya
Group ID: 11640.

HM Treasury
23/01/2013

Niger nationalises state telecoms firm

Niger's parliament voted on Wednesday to nationalise the west African nation's telecoms firm Sonitel, backing away from a planned privatisation after a previous 31 billion CFA francs accord with Libyan company LAP Green foundered.

Niger said in August that it would launch a new bidding round for the company and its mobile arm SahelCom, which has 2.5 million subscribers and competes with Bharti Airtel, Atlantique Telecom's Moov and France Telecom in the Nigerian market.

"By this vote, the Niger Telecommunications Company (Sonitel) has been nationalised and the capital is wholly owned by the state," said Hama Amadou, president of Niger's national assembly after the vote.

Amadou said the nationalisation would allow the government to carry-out investments in the company over the next five years.

Sonitel was previously controlled by a Chinese-Libyan consortium, Dataport, but the Niger government scrapped that deal in 2009, partly because of a lack of investment.

The deal with Libya's Lap Green was scuppered after the firm was unable to meet the terms of the deal following UN sanctions against the government of Muammar Gaddafi.

Source: Business Day Online

Mideast tourism has bright future

UNWTO projects 7% annual growth over 20 years

Despite events of the Arab Spring, and potential uncertainty in the wake of austerity measures in key source European markets, there is a bright future ahead for tourism in the Middle East and North Africa, according to a consensus of delegates at the first United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and Arabian Travel Market industry forum.

The summit, which took place at Arabian Travel Market on Monday, is now set to become an annual fixture that brings together both government and private sector officials to seek common goals and mutual benefits from the promotion of travel in to the region.

Speaking at the forum, UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, called the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region a “tourism success story in the first decade of the 21st century”, with the majority of markets already showing a strong rebound following the challenges of the last 12 months.

Rifai also shared some insight into the regional situation and gave a positive prognosis for the future. “We are very impressed by the rate of recovery of some of the most affected countries in the region. Countries that were directly affected, like Egypt, Tunisia, Syria and Yemen, saw a downturn of 80 to 85 per cent as political events unfolded, but minimised their losses considerably in 2011, closing the year down by 25 to 30 per cent.”

“The potential for growth is still excellent as we are starting from a low nominal base in the region. Even with 79 to 80 million tourist arrivals, the region has less than 8 per cent of the world’s intake of tourists, which currently stands at almost one billion. The MENA region deserves much more,” he added.

While UNWTO statistics recorded the loss of an estimated seven million tourists across the region last year, the organisation is projecting a seven per cent annual growth rate over the next 20 years with visitor totals hitting 195 million by 2030, up from 79 million in 2010.

Setting an optimistic tone, Egypt’s Minister of Tourism, HE Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour said first quarter visitor figures indicated the country was on the right track to return to the level of 2010 numbers by the end of the year, following a downturn of 33 per cent in 2011.

Tarak Labib, Regional Director of Sales Egypt, Hilton Worldwide, said, “The local market was a saviour for our resorts, and we were already seeing business come back by the end of March/early April,” he said.

Leanne Harwood, Vice President of Commercial for India, Middle East and Africa, InterContinental Hotel Group, took a more cautious stance, and noted that until “Egypt stops being on the front page, it’s difficult to see some stability but we’ve seen losses drop to 30 per cent from 80 per cent, so [the market is] definitely rebounding.”

Jordan Tourist Board director, Dr Abdelrazzak Arabiyat proposed joint marketing and packages. “In order to capitalise on long haul markets, we believe we have to combine packages with neighbours to offer Dubai and Jordan, Egypt and Jordan, Oman and Jordan,” he said.

His view was echoed by the minister of tourism for Oman, Her Excellency Maitha Al Mahrouqi who said, “Oman has its own elements, but we can work with others to package together, as well as increasing visa co-operation.”

Looking ahead, Rifai identified certain destinations as ‘ones to watch’. “There are a number of attractive untouched destinations that need a lot of investment, such as Libya and Algeria. These are sleeping giants” he said.

According to Reed Travel Exhibitions’ Portfolio Director, Mark Walsh, the summit was set to become an essential forum for regional issues facing the travel and tourism sector.

“While every destination has its priorities and strategies, there is a common goal to promote the region and we are delighted at the level of participation in this inaugural event which demonstrates a will to work together at all levels,” he concluded.

Source: Emirates247