Libya.

The Security Council on 4 April cited a 29 March flight of a Libyan-registered aircraft from Tripoli to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as a clear violation of the sanctions imposed against Libya under its resolution 748 (1992), and called on its Government to refrain from any further violations of those sanctions.

In a statement read by its President, Antonio Monteiro of Portugal, the Council recalled that arrangements had been made consistent with the sanctions regime in order to fly Libyan pilgrims to perform the Hajj and called the violation "totally unacceptable". It asked the Security Council Committee monitoring the sanctions against Libya, established pursuant to resolution 748 (1992), to draw the attention of Member States to their obligations under resolution 748 (1992) in the event of Libyan-registered aircraft landing in their territory.

Under the sanctions imposed by the resolution, which include a mandatory arms embargo, States shall deny permission to any aircraft to take off from, land in or overfly their territory if it is destined to land in or has taken off from the territory of Libya, unless the flight has been approved by the Committee on significant humanitarian grounds.

An earlier decision by Libya, transmitted in a 17 January letter, to allow Libyan Arab Airways to resume international flights out of the country had been called by the Council on 29 January "incompatible" with resolution 748 (1992). Through a statement by its President, Hisashi Owada of Japan, the Council had said it "would consider any such flights to be a violation" of the resolution's terms.

The Council had also taken note of reports that another Libyan-registered aircraft, in apparent violation of resolution 748 (1992), had flown from Tripoli to Accra, Ghana, on 21 January.

The Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 748 (1992) on 19 March gave the go-ahead for Egypt Air to transport Libyan pilgrims to perform Haj.

The Committee approved a request from Egypt for 45 flights from Cairo to Tripoli and Benghazi, and on to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. By the terms of the approval, Egypt will inform the Committee, in advance, of the exact schedule, routing and aircraft registration number of each flight; all flights are required to be direct, non-stop between the authorized destinations; and none of the aircraft should be owned by, leased from or controlled by Libya or any Libyan entity.