By Ashraf Abdul Wahab.
Tripoli, 14 July 2014:
The United Nations Support Mission . . .[restrict]in Libya (UNSMIL) has evacuated its last remaining staff from the country citing security concerns and the closure of Tripoli Airport as its reasons for withdrawing.
A number of UN diplomatic vehicles carrying personnel and their families crossed the Libyan border into Tunisia late yesterday evening a Ras Jedir border official told the Libya Herald.
UNSMIL said it would return to Libya as soon as the security situation allowed. It said it “will not abandon them [the Libyan people] as they seek to build a democratic state”, but had concluded “that it would not be possible to continue its work in delivering advice and technical support while at the same time ensuring the security and safety of its staff as well as their freedom of movement”.
The UN withdrew around 60 percent of its staff from Libya last week because of security concerns. A UN spokesperson in New York said today that the majority of UNSMIL staff were to remain in Tunisia.
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