Tripoli 28 April 2013:
The Ukrainian embassy in Tripoli’s Ben Ashour district has stopped work at its consular section and has no . . .[restrict]plans to issue visas until further notice, the Libya Herald has learned.
The reason has nothing to do with security concerns as a result of last week’s car bomb at the French embassy. It follows reports of guns being fired today by local residents to disperse Libyans queuing for Ukrainian visas.
Libyans residing around the embassy have for some time complained about the number of people waiting outside and wanting visas, and their behaviour. Their complaint is that applicants are crowding the narrow streets, are unruly and causing a great deal of noise, often from early hours, and are blocking the roads their vehicles. They report that sometimes there are even fights among applicants. Police, who appear on site for consular work hours only, have allegedly declined repeatedly to restore order. The neighbours say that their complaints to the authorities have had no results.
It seems that today, they finally had had enough and started shooting weapons into the air. The embassy reacted by closing its consular section and declaring that no more Libyans would be received and no visas issued until the safety of their staff and those of applicants could be ensured.
Libyans mostly travel to Ukraine for medical reasons – particularly eye surgery – as well as for business or studies. Last year, 5,000 visas were issued to Libyans, a considerable amount given that the embassy has been reportedly operating with a skeleton staff since the revolution. The numbers include wounded thuwar. The closure is expected to affect the regular flow of such wounded fighters to Ukraine.
Last week, a special Ukrainian envoy, Hanadi Latte, was in Tripoli for talks with Prime Minister Ali Zeidan and GNC President Mohamed Magarief about plans to set up a a new Ukrainina-supported eye hospital in Tripoli. [/restrict]
