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By Houda Mzioudet.
Tripoli, 17 April 2014:
An advisor to the Tunisian Ambassador was kidnapped by unidentified gunmen in Tripoli this morning on . . .[restrict]the way to his office in the capital’s Dahra area.
Tunisian Commercial Attache Lotfi Chelli told the Libya Herald that diplomatic advisor Aroussi Gontassi was abducted this morning on his way to work but that further details surrounding the kidnapping had not yet emerged.
The development comes just two days after the kidnapping of two Tunisian engineers who were seized while travelling from the airport to their homes on the airport road.
Gontassi’s abduction comes less than a month after that of another Tunisian embassy staff member, Mohamed Cheikh Rouhou, who was seized in Tripoli’s Ain Zara suburb on 21 March. Like Gontassi, he was an adviser and, also like him, his car was found empty.
There is still no news of his fate.
Both cases are thought to be responses to the cases of Libyans arrested and jailed in Tunisia.
Yesterday the cabinet announced that it would enacting plans to boost protection for foreign diplomatic staff. The decision was motivated by the kidnapping on Tuesday of the Jordanian Ambassador to Libya Fawwaz Al-Eitan. [/restrict]
