Libya's Gaddafi-era oil chief found floating dead in Danube

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Libya's Gaddafi-era oil chief found floating dead in Danube

VIENNA | Sun Apr 29, 2012 5:59pm EDT

(Reuters) - Libya's former top oil industry official, Shokri Ghanem, has been found floating dead in the River Danube in Austria, police said on Sunday.

Ghanem, 69, had been chairman of Libya's state-owned National Oil Corporation (NOC) before defecting last year several months after opponents of Muammar Gaddafi had risen up against the Libyan leader and begun a rebellion.

As NOC chairman since 2006, Ghanem helped steer Libya's oil policy and held the high-profile job of representing Libya at OPEC meetings, often visiting Vienna for meetings in that role.

"He was found dead in the Danube river at 8:40 a.m. (0640 GMT). There is no suspicion at all of foul play at this stage. The corpse exhibited no signs of violence," a Vienna police spokesman said.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/29/us-libya-ghanem-idUSBRE83S0G620120429

[Eugene]

1. Gaddafi-era Libyan oil chief drowned: Vienna police

Source: Reuters

Gaddafi-era Libyan oil chief drowned: Vienna police

By Michael Shields

VIENNA | Mon Apr 30, 2012 12:07pm EDT

(Reuters) - Libya's former prime minister and oil minister Shokri Ghanem, a prominent defector from Muammar Gaddafi's government, drowned in the River Danube, Vienna police said on Monday and a Libyan security source suggested he could have been murdered.

Ghanem's fully-clothed body was found in the Danube in Vienna on Sunday, a few hundred meters from his home. According to a preliminary autopsy there were no indications of foul play or suicide, spokesman Roman Hahslinger told reporters.

A Libyan security source said they were investigating the death and believed he could have been pushed into the Danube by former Gaddafi agents.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/30/us-libya-ghanem-idUSBRE83T0SJ20120430

[susanlinch]

2. murder or suicide?

mr Ghanem had chosen a way of never homing