Tunis, June 19 (IANS) Tunisian Foreign Minister Taieb Baccouche announced on Friday that his government has decided to close its consulate in Tripoli, right after the ten consulate staff kidnapped in Libya were freed.
According to Baccouche, the decision came after Libya’s violation of its engagement to protect foreign diplomatic staff, Xinhua news agency reported. All 23 Tunisian diplomatic staff have left Libya on Friday by a military plane, said Baccouche.
On Friday morning, all Tunisian consulate staff kidnapped in Libya a week ago were freed and were on their way back home, said the Tunisian foreign ministry.
The abducted officers at the consulate in the Libyan capital of Tripoli were held as hostages by a Libyan militia group last Saturday.
Three of them were freed earlier this week and the rest were released on Thursday, the Tunisian news agency TAP reported.
The motive behind the kidnapping was not clarified by officials from the two countries.
However, Libyan media said the consulate staff were taken by Tripoli’s Artillery and Missiles Brigade as Tunisian authorities refused to free one of its commanders arrested in Tunisia in May.
Libya is faced with a security vacuum since the fall of former ruler Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in 2011. Since then, the country has been plagued with illegal arrests and detentions of foreign nationals and diplomats by armed factions to pressurise the government into complying with their demands.
The capital city of Tripoli fell to Libya Dawn last August. The Islamist militia established its own government to confront the internationally recognised one, currently in exile in the eastern town of Tobruk. The country is now deadlocked in a dogfight between the pro-secular army and Islamist militants.
Tunis has warned its nationals living and working in Libya to leave the country in case of potential threats to their security.