Bangladeshi citizens from restive Libyan city of Benghazi are being evacuated, foreign ministry officials said on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Labour and Manpower Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain on the same day confirmed that Bangladeshi workers have been reportedly kept hostage by armed mercenaries.
Saying that the hostages have been kept in a community centre, he, while talking to reporters at his ministry, referred to several unofficial sources to be informing that the hostages are in a safe condition now.
Mosharraf, however, admitted that the government is yet to establish any communication with the workers.
Briefing on the latest situation, Foreign Minister Dipu Moni said the government has already taken steps to evacuate the Bangladeshis from Benghazi at the earliest possible time in the wake of the ongoing turmoil in Libya.
She said Bangladeshi citizens from other parts of the country may also be evacuated as well, if necessary.
The government has already contacted international organisations with experience in emergency evacuation, Dr Dipu Moni added.
After evacuating the Bangladeshi nationals, they will be brought back to the country, sources in the foreign ministry told The Daily Star.
US-based rights watchdog Human Rights Watch said at least 233 Libyans had been killed in five days of violence as they agitate for an end to 41-year rule of Muammar Gaddafi.
Meanwhile, Libyan Ambassador in Bangladesh Ahmed AH Elimam on Monday resigned from office and expressed solidarity with his agitating countrymen.
After tendering his resignation, the Libyan envoy also informed Bangladesh foreign ministry in compliance with diplomatic norms the same day.
Foreign ministry officials confirmed the information on Tuesday.
Libyan ambassador to the United States Ali Adjali said he could no longer support Gadhafi.
Meanwhile, The Associated Press reported that Libya's ambassador to India has resigned his post and is calling on the international community to stop the violent government crackdown against protesters in his country.
The news agency quoted Ali al-Essawi to be saying on Tuesday that he resigned because he could not tolerate the violence his government was using against Libyan civilians.
He said: “The authorities are killing peaceful people, which is not acceptable. We have to stop the bloodshed. It's the responsibility of the international community to stop the bloodshed."
Meanwhile, a Libyan diplomat in China, Hussein el-Sadek el-Mesrati, told a media, “I resigned from representing the government of Mussolini and Hitler.”
Libyan embassies in Tokyo and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, were closed Tuesday, according to non-diplomatic workers who answered the telephones.
Revolutions which deposed the presidents of Tunisia and Egypt have shaken the Arab world and inspired protests across the Middle East and North Africa, threatening the grip of long-entrenched autocratic leaders.
Libyan security forces have killed dozens of protesters across the vast, thinly populated nation stretching from the Mediterranean deep into the Sahara desert, human rights groups and witnesses said, prompting widespread condemnation from world leaders.
Demonstrations spread to Tripoli after several cities in the east -- including Benghazi where the protests had first erupted -- appeared to fall to the opposition, according to residents.
Cracks were beginning to appear among Gaddafi's supporters, with a group of army officers calling on soldiers to "join the people" and two senior fighter pilots defecting to nearby Malta.
The UN Security Council will hold a closed-door meeting on Tuesday to discuss the crisis, diplomats said.
Tripoli, a Mediterranean coastal city, appeared calm in the early hours of Tuesday. "There is heavy rain at the moment, so people are at home," one resident said. "I am in the east of the city and have not heard clashes."
Bangladesh is closely monitoring the situation in Libya, the foreign minister said, adding that they are in constant contact with Bangladesh mission in Tripoli to take updates
No comments:
Post a Comment