Swiss press ahead with talks in Libya dispute: FM

(INTERLAKEN) - Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey said Friday that she was pressing ahead with diplomatic efforts to resolve a standoff with Libya, after the EU became embroiled in the spat this week.

On Thursday, Calmy-Rey met her Libyan counterpart Moussa Koussa in Madrid for the first time in months, under the auspices of Spain, which holds the presidency of the European Union.

"Talks are continuing. We have always privileged a political solution and that's what we are doing," Calmy-Rey told AFP on Friday during an unrelated conference in Switzerland.

She declined to comment on media reports that Swiss and Libyan diplomats would meet in the German capital Berlin on Friday.

Spain said Thursday that some progress had been made after the Libyan and Swiss foreign policy chiefs tried to resolve the row over Berne's travel ban on some Libyans.

However, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos added that "the situation between Swiss and Libyan authorities is difficult".

Libya and Switzerland have locked horns since July 2008, when Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's son Hannibal was arrested after two domestic workers complained he had mistreated them.

The row escalated when Libya swiftly detained two Swiss businessmen, who have been stopped from leaving the country since then.

European Union states were drawn in last week when Libya retaliated against Swiss visa restrictions by denying entry to citizens of Europe's 25-state Schengen free-travel zone, of which Switzerland is a member, to the dismay France and Italy.

Switzerland last autumn reportedly listed 186 senior Libyans, including Kadhafi and the foreign minister, who would be denied access to Swiss territory.

Swiss officials would only say that 270 requests by Libyans for Schengen visas were turned down in 2009.