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By Nigel Ash
Tripoli, 23 April 2013:
Despite the shock and anger felt by Libyans and foreigners in the capital, there appeared to . . .[restrict]be a general view that this morning’s attack on the French embassy was not going lead to a mass departure of non-nationals from Tripoli.
At the Oil and Gas and Infrastructure exhibition and conference at Tripoli International Fairground, the organisers reported that none of the overseas exhibitors had indicated that they were abandoning the event. The large Total stand was closed for the day but was expected to reopen tomorrow, Wednesday. Another French exhibitor told the Libya Herald: “I believe that they have used today for a review of their security arrangements. Naturally all French companies have been reassessing the risks but we all intend to stay for the whole show”.
Gary Lumley, commercial manager of UK engineering company Trouvay & Cauvin said: “Obviously we were all upset by this morning’s news but glad that there appear to have been no serious injuries. But the attitude here among exhibitors is that we soldier on. Indeed the people from French companies seem determined not to let this affect them,”.
Also soldiering on are the 17 teams taking part in the 32nd African Volleyball Championship currently being held in Tripoli and hosted by the Ahli Tripoli Club.
The head of the Libyan Volleyball Federation, Eyad Almesrati told the Libya Herald: “Attacks of this nature can happen anywhere. Look at the recent Boston Marathon tragedy. We are going to continue, not least because this is an important event for the African clubs some of who have travelled a long way to be here. This championship, which finishes on Saturday, leads on to the Volleyball World Cup.”
Almesrati added that the Ministry of the Interior had boosted security round the championship. A coach with the Ethiopian team said that he and his team mates were still not worried about security. “These things happen,” he said, “They don’t matter. The championship is what is important and we are here to win it, if we can”.
The European Union did cancel a press conference at their Dahra headquarters this morning where they were due to launch the inaugural Libya Movie Awards, due to start tomorrow (Wednesday) at the Al-Mahari Theatre, running until Friday.
However a spokesman a spokesman for the EU, which is organising the awards with the Italian Culture Institute, told the Libya Herald this evening that the event was still on and that further details would be given on Wednesday. [/restrict]
