By Libya Herald reporters.
Tripoli and Tunis, 14 July 2015:
Bangladesh has closed its embassy in Tripoli and warned its citizens not to . . .[restrict]come to Libya.
Officially there are some 40,000 Bangladeshis working in the country, though the figure is probably far higher. During the Revolution, 36,000 citizens were flown back to Dhaka, though many more are believe to have remained. There has since been a flourishing trade in fake visas.
The majority of the community is working in low-paid menial jobs, street cleaning and collecting rubbish. There are also Bangladeshi health professionals and oil field workers, two of whom were kidnapped for two weeks and then released this March, allegedly by Daesh.
In May the government announced a ban on Bangladeshi nationals entering the country, saying that they were migrants intent upon crossing the Mediterranean. It also said that action, which it did not specify, would be taken against Bangladeshis already here. It is unclear how effective the ban ever became and no steps appear to have been taken towards those nationals already in the country.
The foreign ministry in Dhaka said its was advising against travel to Libya “ in view of the ongoing fighting and the deteriorating security situation throughout the country”. It offered no repatriation to its citizens wishing to leave but warned them to avoid large gatherings and areas were fighting had broken out.
The Tripoli embassy staff have been relocated to Tunis. The mission has said that the Labour Counsellor Ashraful Islam can be reached +21675750300 and +21621924229 and [email protected]. [/restrict]
