Dhaka will evacuate its 50,000 nationals from Libya including 5,000 from the city of Benghazi as the African nation has been witnessing a pro-democracy upsurge.“We have decided to evacuate our nationals from Benghazi, now the most troubled city of Libya... the process has started already,” Foreign Minister Dr Dipu Moni told a group of journalists at her office here on Tuesday.
Dipu said Dhaka was closely monitoring the situation in Libya and keeping constant contact with Bangladesh mission in Tripoli, while talks were opened with the relevant international organisations for emergency evacuation. Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Engineer Mosharraf Hossain at a separate briefing at his office on the day said the government had taken “All steps required to ensure security of Bangladeshi workers” in Libya and Middle Eastern countries.
“There is nothing to be panicked. If needed, UN assistance would be sought,” he told the press briefing at his office at Bangladesh Secretariat. He was, however, quick to hold that the situation not such as to warrant UN intervention at the moment.
He said the government was trying to contact the Libyan authorities through the official channel following the publication of a report in newspapers that 100 Bangladeshis had been held hostage in a community centre in Benghazi.
Foreign Secretary Mijarul Quayes at a briefing later on the day, however, ruled out reports that Bangladeshis had been taken hostage saying according to the “latest information we received, all Bangladeshis in Libya are safe, none were injured or kept hostage”.
Hossain said the Bangladesh mission opened a control room to take measures for security of 50,000 expatriate Bangladeshis and monitor their conditions, he said while his office was also in contacts with the overseas recruiting agencies.
“They (recruiting agencies) have been asked to shift the Bangladeshi workers to safer places,” the expatriates welfare minister said.
Officials earlier said the number of Bangladeshi nationals in Libya was more than 50,000. They were residing in different cities and industrial regions across the country.
Meanwhile, the foreign ministry on Tuesday also issued a statement saying “our Embassy (in Tripoli) is in touch with the Bangladeshi expatriates throughout Libya (and) the safety of Bangladesh nationals is of prime interest to the government of Bangladesh” while Dhaka was closely following current development in Libya.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is exploring all options to ensure safety and security of all Bangladesh nationals in Libya. A cell has been opened in the Ministry to coordinate emergency response, if and when necessary,” it said.
The statement also said that Bangladesh was concerned at the onset of violence and hoped that all concerned would exercise restraint and bring about a peaceful resolution of the present crisis as Dhaka looked forward and to an early return of normalcy in Libya.
Read the original story on The Independent
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