Reply #45: Gaddafi regime used loophole in UN sanctions to import gasoline early this month

[pinboy3niner]

Libya imported gasoline from Italian refiner Saras in early April, taking advantage of a loophole in United Nations sanctions that permits purchases by companies not on a UN list of banned entities.

Three shipping sources with direct knowledge of the transaction told the Reuters news agency the cargo was delivered via ship-to-ship transfer in Tunisia before sailing to Libya.

Italian-flagged tanker Valle di Navarra arrived at the Tunisian port of La Skhira on April 3 and then transferred its cargo onto the Libyan vessel Anwaar Libya for shipment to Gaddafi-controlled western Libya, the shipping sources said. Saras declined to comment.

The shipment is legal under UN sanctions against Gaddafi's government because the buyer, Libya's General National Maritime Transport Company (GNMTC) which owns the Anwaar Libya, is not on a UN blacklist.

Libyan efforts to import fuel may be raised at a meeting in Washington on Tuesday when UK defence secretary Liam Fox meets his US counterpart, Robert Gates.

12:50pm:
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/live/africa/libya-live-blog-april-26