Information Policy Department's comment on the detention of a ship with Ukrainian sailors in Libyan

On July 17 this year in Libyan port of Benghazi city some armed people captured and detain the ship "Etel," which arrived to Libya under St. Kitts and Nevis' flag with crew of 19 citizens of Ukraine.

At night on July 18 some unidentified armed persons went on board the vessel, took three crew members and took them to an unknown destination. Later that night they returned the ship.

Due to the incident, on July 19, 2013 the Charge d'Affaires of the State of Libya in Ukraine Alhadi Asbaie was summoned to the Ministry of foreign affairs of Ukraine.

During the meeting, the Special Representative of Ukraine for Middle East and Africa Hennadii Latii expressed deep concern of Ukrainian side about the unauthorized acts of armed Libyan citizens and stressed that the incident is considered by Ukrainian side as an unfriendly action, indicating the failure of the official Libyan authorities to control the situation with the rule of law ensuring in the country.

H.Latii demanded to release immediately the vessel and its crew in accordance with international law provisions, to ensure the safety of our sailors on the vessel, as well as to conduct an unbiased investigation of the incident in order to avoid such cases in future.

The representative of the Libyan Embassy was given the corresponding verbal note of the MFA of Ukraine.

Adapted from mfa.gov.ua