Stop Press / Breaking News – Gadaffi’s companies in Africa face uncertain future, may be subject to asset freezes too

LIBYAN OWNED COMPANIES FACE UNCERTAIN FUTURE

Concerns are growing amongst management and staff of Libyan owned companies like LAICO Hotels and Uganda Telecom about their future and their biggest shareholder’s ability to inject further capital into the companies for expansion, modernization and system upgrades.

LAICO Hotels for instance owns the Lake Victoria Hotel in Entebbe, but also the prestigious Grand Regency Hotel in Nairobi, which is located along the Uhuru Highway and was in the negative headlines for weeks at end when it was ‘sold’ at an alleged throw away price to Gadaffi’s Libya in turn for a range of ‘considerations’. Another major hotel in the region is their Umumbano Hotel in Kigali.

All these properties, while formally owned by LAICO Hotels, were always presented to the public, and many of the staff support this notion, as ‘Gadaffi’s properties’ and the current standing of this ‘owner’ – considering all the global sanctions, frozen bank accounts and even asset freezes – are making staff sentiments run riot, with rumours abound over the future of these hotels.

It is understood that operations have at this stage not been affected, but should the global freeze of Gadaffi controlled companies be extended to include these hotels, it could have a series of rather negative consequences, both in the legal sense as well as for the financial side of the companies.

It is no wonder therefore that management and staff of these companies are monitoring the developments in Libya therefore with growing concern, wondering how safe their own, especially senior positions are, if their salaries are being paid at the end of the month and the months to come and who will be ‘in charge’ in the future as at least some board member positions are held by Gadaffi cronies who may find themselves being embargoed too as much of the dictators inner circle now has their assets frozen abroad and travel bans imposed on them.

Libya, or should one say Gadaffi, has become a major investor in East Africa over recent years, where ‘opportunities’ were snapped up regularly, often without competitive bidding more as a political favour – something which most likely is now no longer the case and more and more of his ‘friends’ are turning their back on him, just as they would when the proverbial tycoon goes broke.

It is understood that the UN is putting a panel together to oversee the freeze of assets, of bank accounts operated by Gadaffi’s family and cronies and whom to extend travel bans to, making it a period of anxiety for all those working for such companies, in Africa and around the world, until the positions of such firms have been clarified by a sanction committee.

Watch this space as the latest saga involving Libya unfolds.

Stop press – Breaking News – Kenyans home from Libya, Ugandans on next flight to Entebbe

 

AFRICAN EVACUEES LAND IN NAIROBI

The Kenyan contingent on the Kenya Airways special flight KQ 1322 were given a tumultuous welcome by relatives and friends, when the KQ B767-300 touched down at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport a short while ago.

Unlike many others rescued by the same mission, who will now make their way home on Kenya Airways’ connecting flights to Entebbe, Dar es Salaam, Kigali, Bujumbura and Johannesburg they had completed their homebound journey and, according to an eyewitness from JKIA, expressed their relief and gratitude to be back home safely. The Kenyan government, through their embassy in Tripoli, joined by fellow East African diplomats also accredited to Libya, made the ground arrangements in Tripoli to get as many East Africans to the airport there as was possible, while Kenya Airways did all the flight planning and logistics – a major challenges as it turned out in the end, considering they were flying into a virtual civil was zone.

Yet, inspite of setbacks and disappointing delays, the flight was eventually able to leave Tripoli, then stopped in Cairo to give the crew their required rest time – they were first on standby to take off to Libya and then sat on the ground for an extended period of time – before the aircraft left Egypt in the early hours of today and returned to Nairobi.

As to Ugandans on board, they too can expect a hero’s welcome in Entebbe, when they get home later in the morning, equally happy to have escaped with their lives and the few bits and pieces they managed to carry with them, when abandoning their work places in Libya and running for their dear life, before Tripoli too degenerates further into street fighting.

Again, compliments to all involved to bring this rescue mission about and to Kenya Airways’ crew and management for their defiance to succeed in the face of many problems.