THE FIRST Cypriots to be evacuated from Libya are expected to leave on board a Greek ship sometime this afternoon.
The Minerva Antonia was dispatched yesterday and will spend most of today docked in the Libyan port of Ra’s Lanuf, located between Benghazi and Tripoli. It will pick up any Greek, Cypriot and European citizens who want to leave Libya, taking them to Greece.
Director of crisis management at Cyprus’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Andreas Zinonos said anyone who wants to leave and can get to Ra’s Lanuf by this afternoon will be offered passage.
Another official at the Foreign Ministry said 16 Cypriots will leave today on two separate flights. Two Greek military transport planes were scheduled to fly into the north African country to transport Greek and Cypriot nationals. One of them will fly to Tripoli and return to Athens and the other will go to two areas within the country, which are near sites where Greek and Cypriots are working.
It is understood that some remain trapped in desert compounds. Yesterday a Greek national in such a compound with 20 Cypriot workers made a dramatic plea on a live news show on Greek broadcaster Mega.
“The situation is critical. Come and get us. Please,” Panayiotis Korifidis said. He said five minutes before speaking to the channel gunmen had entered their compound again, threatened them and taken away company cars.
There are currently 17 Cypriots who are permanent residents in Libya, through mixed marriages, and around 124 Cypriots there for work purposes, either in one of the ten Cypriot companies, in joint ventures or European and international companies. The majority of Cypriots are in Tripoli, but the main problem is the number dispersed in the desert.
Cyprus ambassador in Tripoli Pericles Stivaros was more reassuring. “They are fine and they are safe,” said Stivaros assuring that there was no reason to panic and to his knowledge no Cypriots had been injured. “People should not worry, whatever we can do we’ll do it,” he added.
Despite these assurances, seven Cypriot and seven Greek employees, as well as other nationalities, of well-known construction company Joannou and Paraskevaides (J&P) up until yesterday had been suffering what Zinonos described as “aggression” and “thefts” on their construction site in the desert.
Zinonos confirmed that they have now been moved, where they are safe, to a petrol site. The distraught wife of one of these men described on local broadcaster’s CyBC radio station how her husband and his colleagues experienced “drunk men coming onto their campus, stealing their food and opening fire.”
She said men with guns had twice entered the desert compound firing into the air, once in the morning when they had taken cars and again at lunch time when they took fuel and food. “We haven’t slept. We don’t know what to do. The situation is out of control,” she said. In common with other family members, the woman said they communicate with those in Libya via Skype. “We are all sitting in front of the computer,” the woman added.
Spokesman for J&P, which currently has at least eight major projects underway in Libya, Sotos Zakheos reiterated once again that their employees are fine and as far as he knows no construction site under attack belonged to J&P.
Stivaros also mentioned that part of the embassy has been moved to the ambassador’s residence to have two places issuing travel documents just in case a problem arises, as on Monday gun shots were heard close to the embassy.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has advised the public not to travel to Libya. For more information call the duty officer at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 99 660129.
