Nepali workers in Libya cross war zone

KATHMANDU, Mar 9: The government on Wednesday said almost all Nepali workers in the troubled African country of Libya have crossed the war-zone and reached relatively safer Misrata, the border town between, Libya and Tunisia, and Bengui.



With this development, the government has changed its initial plan of sending the national flag career Nepal Airlines (NA) to Libya to bring stranded Nepali workers back home. [break]



The cabinet meeting on Wednesday also decided to request friendly countries to help Nepal bring the Nepalis from Misrata and Bengui. “Almost all Nepalis have safely left Tripoli. We hope only a few are still to leave Tripoli,” Foreign Secretary Madan Kumar Bhattarai told Republica after the cabinet meeting.



Earlier, the government had been planning to send NA to bring Nepali workers back home. “We tried to charter Nepal Airlines to bring Nepalis from Tripoli [one of the key war zones in Libya]. But If we send NA, all commercial flights have to be cancelled,” Government Spokesperson and Minister for Education Minister Gangalal Tuladhar said after cabinet meeting.



Tuladhar said there were 73 Nepalis in Tripoli and 42 have reached to Misrata and others to Bengui. According to him, 1,565 people have already landed in Kathmandu from Libya since pro-democratic movement began last month.

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