According to Dhan Bahadur Oli, Deputy Chief of Protocol at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), officials at the Nepali Embassy in Egypt, which also oversees Libya, called all the remaining workers, who are in several groups in various parts of Libya, on Wednesday to leave either for Sallum, an Egyptian border town, or Ras Jdir, a Tunisian border town. [break]
“We have also asked various international humanitarian organizations including International Organization for Migration (IOM) and International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) to help Nepali workers flee Libya,” Oli said. “Our embassy officials will be in Sallum and Ras Jdir to pick them up.”
While Tirtha Aryal, the first secretary at the Egypt-based embassy, is preparing to go to the Tunisian border town of Ras Jdir, where some Nepali workers have already reached and taking shelter in camps set up by the IOM, Lok Bahadur Chhetri, the first secretary at the UAE-based embassy, who has recently been deputed to Cairo in the wake of the Libya unrest, will soon reach the Egyptian border town of Sallum.
“We have asked all Nepali workers, who have come into our contact so far, to form small groups and head either toward Sallum or Ras Jdir,” Aryal told Republica, adding, “Once they get out of Libya, it is our responsibility to safely send them home.”
According to MoFA, only some 300 workers are now left in Libya. Of the last remaining around 1,000 workers, about 700 workers from Ghat area of Libya have already been airlifted to Sudan. The Shino Hydro Company of China, which employed them in Libya, has chartered two flights to send them back from Sudan.
“We can´t flee Libya on our own”
Surya Mohan Sapkota, a resident of Jagatpur-9 in Chitwan district, who is stranded in Tripoli, the capital city of Libya, along with other 23 Nepali workers, received a phone call on Wednesday from Egypt. The call was made by some official at the Nepali embassy in Cairo, the capital city of Egypt. “I forgot the name of the man who called us from Egypt,” Surya Mohan told Republica over phone. “But, I clearly remember his message. He asked us to somehow find their way into Tunisia. They will come there to receive us.”
However, Surya Mohan, who recently spent a freezing night at the international airport of Tripoli along with other Nepali workers after their employer abandoned them there, said: “We do not know how we can find our way to Tunisia. We have no money to hire a vehicle. We have no money to buy tickets for a public bus, either. Even if we manage money for bus fare, who will take care of us if something goes wrong on the way. No one has so far contacted us to take us to Tunisia. It is far for us.”
A year ago, Surya Mohan had reached Libya to work in a building construction project run by Qatar´s Ramco Company. However, Surya Mohan, along with other Nepali workers, was later handed over to some local construction company. The company paid them their salaries until January 14. They were supposed to get their latest salary on February 14.
“It has been one and a half month since we received our last salary. So, we have no money now. We have been forced to live in three small rooms,” he said. According to him, it costs a passenger 50 dinar to reach the border of Tunisa. “We have no money for this,” he said. “And, it is dangerous to reach Tunisia by road as there are clashes everywhere. Even Tunisians are returning home by plane.”
“We do not have adequate food and water,” said Hom Bahadur Ale, another Nepali worker stranded in Tripoli. “We can not step out of our rooms. We have not even recharged our mobile phones for days. So, we have not been able to contact any one from here.” While they slept outside the airport two days ago, local thugs had even robbed some of them of their money and mobile phones.
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