Foreign ministry says they are staying at community centre; foreigners fleeing the country
Bangladeshi nationals in Libya are safe from the deadly protests rattling the rule of Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi, the foreign secretary said yesterday amid reports that anti-government protesters held dozens of Bangladeshis hostage.
“There is no casualty of any Bangladeshi national nor anyone is being held hostage or has been arrested in Libya,” Foreign Secretary Mijarul Quayes said in a hurriedly called press conference at the Foreign Office.
He said around 450 Bangladeshis who were trapped at Darnah in Benghazi have already moved to a community centre, a safer place and “our citizens are free there.”
He admitted that foreign nationals came under attack in several places and “a sense of insecurity is prevailing among the Bangladeshi community in Libya.”
Currently over 50,000 Bangladeshis, including some skilled professionals, are working in Libya, he informed.
However, Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Emoployment Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain told the Daily Star yesterday that the anti-government protesters held hostages around 100 Bangladeshi workers in Benghazi. But they are safe and secure, he said.
He said four companies, including one Korean and a Chinese, are already shifting workers to safer places.
In another development Libyan Ambassador in Bangladesh Ahmad Ateya Hamd Al-Imam has resigned from the office protesting the bloodshed in his country. He was among several key Libyan diplomats who have defected toother countries expressing solidarity with anti-government protesters.
The Daily Star could be not reach the Bangladesh Ambassador or any staff of the embassy despite repeated phone attempts yesterday.
Foreign Secretary claimed that communication could not be established with Ambassador on Monday night, but “we have contacted him this (Tuesday) morning.”
A Libyan citizen reached by telephone told The Daily Star from Tripoli that the rioters were attacking mainly the foreign companies, prompting hundreds of foreigners to leave the country.
“The Tripoli airport is full of foreigners, who are being evacuated,” he said at Libyan time 2:15pm. Everybody in the city is staying home, said the Libyan. The line dropped before his name could be known.
Mijarul Quayes said that situation in Libya, especially in southern region is volatile and it is very hard to get any access.
He said that he had talk with the Bangladesh Ambassador in Tripoli ABM Nuruzzaman about possible evacuation of Bangladeshi citizens to safer places and the ambassador informed that he has already contacted with international organizations in Libya regarding evacuation.
Replying to a question, Mijarul Quayes said that there are only two officers, including the Ambassador in Bangladesh mission in Tripoli. Another officer, who is the labour attaché, is now in Dhaka to attend a government meeting.
He said there was no attack on Bangladesh embassy and the Ambassador was doing office from his residence and yesterday he went to chancery. But its not possible to keep the embassy open under the current situation.
Asked about the resignation of the Libyan Ambassador in Bangladesh, the Foreign Secretary confirmed it and said that a note from the Libyan embassy said that “the ambassador is no longer with us and the second man has taken over the charge of Charges d ‘ Affaires.
Although Ahmad Ateya Hamd Al-Imam, who joined in Dhaka on July 10, 2008 is no longer Ambassador, but he will get protocol, security and other admissible facilities as per the diplomatic tradition.
Official sources said that the Libyan Ambassador informed a top official at the Foreign Ministry on Monday about his resignation and Libyan Foreign Ministry in a note send yesterday officially informed it to Foreign Ministry and senior most officers at the embassy Assistant Secretary (Cooperation) Eshtiwi Elfilaidni will act as CDA until further order.
Meanwhile, recruiting agent in Dhaka Didarul Huq of Heaven Overseas told The Daily Star he received a message from a Bangladeshi working in a Tripoli hospital that the hospital authorities asked the employees to remain in the camps, as clashes were rampant in the streets.
Quoting a Bangladeshi working as a laundryman in Tripoli, another recruiting agent AHM Moyeen Uddin said on Monday late night the foreign workers were not able to go out of their camps or residences in Tripoli.
The relatives of the Bangladeshis in Libya, meanwhile, are passing a tense time over their fate in the troubled African country.
“Informed of clashes, I have been trying to contact my brother, Jasim, in Libya. The phone line was so disturbing that I could not talk to him to know about his
status,” Mohammad Alamgir of Chandpur told The Daily Star.
Yanhap, a South Korean news agency, on Monday reported 18 workers, including 15 Bangladeshis.
