Foreigners urged to leave Libya amid rising violence

TRIPOLI - Egypt and several western states on Sunday urged their citizens to leave Libya amid spiraling violence after two weeks of fighting in the capital Tripoli left 97 people dead.
 
Washington evacuated its embassy staff on Saturday, with Secretary of State John Kerry warning the mission had faced a "real risk" from fierce fighting between armed groups for control of Tripoli's international airport.
 
Another 38 people, mostly soldiers, were killed in 24 hours of fighting between the army and Islamists in the eastern city of Benghazi, military and medical officials said on Sunday, a further sign of the chaos plaguing the North African nation.
 
The Tripoli clashes, the most violent since the overthrow of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, started with an assault on the airport by a coalition of groups, mainly Islamists, which has since been backed by fighters from third city Misrata.
 
The attackers are battling to flush out fellow former rebels from the hill town of Zintan, southwest of Tripoli, who have controlled the airport for the past three years.
 
The health ministry said on Sunday the violence had killed 97 people, a toll based on casualty reports from eight public hospitals in the city and its suburbs.
 
More than 400 people were wounded.
 
Fighting was still raging, with explosions heard from early morning as militiamen battled around the airport.
 
Egypt's foreign ministry said a rocket hit a house in Tripoli on Saturday, killing 23 people, including several Egyptians.
 
"There are 23 people dead after a Grad rocket fell on a house in Tripoli. Some of them are Egyptians, but we don't know how many," ministry spokesman Badr Abdelatty told AFP.
 
Foreigners leaving
 
Cairo called on "all Egyptian nationals in Tripoli and Benghazi to immediately leave and save themselves from this chaotic internal fighting."
 
The foreign ministry said they should seek "safer areas in Libya or head to the Libya-Tunisia border."
 
There were an estimated 1.5 million Egyptians in Libya before Kadhafi's ouster. About two-thirds left during the war but many returned in 2012.
 
Also on Sunday, a British embassy convoy was fired on in a suspected attempted carjacking in western Tripoli. There were no casualties, a spokesman for London's mission in Libya said.
 
"Shots were fired at our vehicles but they managed to drive on and leave the area," Bob Phillipson said.
 
The violence prompted Britain, France, Germany and the Netherlands to join Washington in urging their citizens to leave as soon as possible, after the US pulled out its diplomatic staff under air cover on Saturday.
 
Belgium, Malta, Spain and Turkey previously urged their nationals to leave.
 
Libya's health ministry warned that foreigners leaving could cause a shortage of health workers, particularly since the Philippines ordered the departure of its citizens, 3,000 of whom were doctors and nurses in Libya, Tripoli said.
 
The airport has been closed since July 13 because of the clashes.
 
Libya's interim government has warned that the fighting between those vying for control of the strategic airport threatened to tear the country apart.
 
In second city Benghazi, another 38 people, mostly soldiers, were killed in 24 hours of intense clashes between the army and Islamists.
 
A military source said the fighting erupted on Saturday when Islamist groups launched an assault on the headquarters of a special forces unit near the city centre, causing casualties among forces defending their barracks.
 
Benghazi's main hospital said the bodies of 28 soldiers had been taken there in the past 24 hours, along with 50 wounded, while Al-Marj hospital, 100 kilometres (60 miles) to the east, spoke of two soldiers dead and 10 wounded.
 
A spokesman for the self-proclaimed Shura Council of Benghazi Revolutionaries, an alliance of Islamic and jihadist militia which has claimed a number of attacks on military bases in the area, said eight of its fighters were killed.
 
Overnight, special forces commander Wanis Abu Khamada told Al-Ahrar television his troops could still "repel any attack on state institutions".
 
An AFP correspondent said several families were seen leaving the area of the clashes, as loud explosions were heard on Sunday morning.
 
Near-daily clashes take place in Benghazi, parts of which have become strongholds for Islamist groups since Kadhafi's overthrow. —Agence France-Presse

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more