By Libya Herald reporters.
Tripoli, 2 September 2015:
The government has added Iranians, Pakistanis and Yemenis to the list of nationalities banned from . . .[restrict]entering Libya. Visas have for some time, no longer been given to Bangladeshis, Palestinians, Sudanese and Syrians.
The new proscription was signed by Armed Forces commander General Khalifa Hafter, who in June last year controversially ordered Turks and Qataris to quit Libya. The decision on the Turks was rescinded when it became apparent that the departure of Turkish engineers was hindering the completion of the few major construction projects still under way. In particular the Turkish company Gama felt obliged to withdraw its people from the new Gulf Power Station at Sirte.
Work came to a halt until Hafter’s climbdown three weeks later when the Turks returned to complete the commissioning of the first of four new 350 megawatt turbines. The company finally withdrew its people in August as security plummeted out of control.
Hafter has maintained that the banned nationals represent a danger to Libya’s safety and were likely to join terrorist groups. It is not clear why the ban was announced by Hafter rather than a member of prime minister Abdullah Al-Thinni’s government.
It is also unclear how the new ban will affect the nationals concerned who are here legally. However, the majority of Syrians and Bangladeshis is in Libya illegally, working in menial jobs and, more often than not, intent on finding passage on a Europe-bound migrant vessel.
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