The uprising in Libya is getting worse according to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) reports lately and this prompted DFA to order the evacuation of more than 1,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) working in Tripoli and nearby areas as fighting continues to escalate.
The “increased threats to the safety and security of more than 1,000 Filipinos who are still there” has incited Foreign Secretary Teodoro “Teddyboy” Locsin, Jr .to issue the order as he raised Alert Level 4 in Tripoli and surrounding areas, DFA reported on Wednesday, May 1.
The alert level was raised “after a number of Filipinos suddenly found themselves in the middle of fierce fighting” on Monday, April 29.
Secretary Locsin is encouraging all Filipinos who are still in Tripoli to evacuate to a safer place and repatriate before the conflict aggravates. He also calls upon their families in the Philippines to convince their loved ones who are in Libya to consider repatriation before any further harm happens to them.
The Philippine embassy in Tripoli stressed that under Alert Level 4, it “will redouble its efforts in persuading Filipinos to go home.”
Chargé d’Affaires Elmer Cato elaborates that “the fighting in the outskirts of Tripoli will also soon make it difficult for the embassy to respond to urgent requests for assistance from distressed nationals.”
In his tweet on Wednesday, Locsin said, “Alert Level 4 is mandatory evacuation but we cannot compel – and rightly so. What is mandatory is that DFA stays in Tripoli until the last OFW goes – and then it stays.”
The crisis in Libya has claimed at least 278 lives and left more than 1,300 casualties according to a report released last April 24 by the World Health Organization.
To date, 41,000 people has fled the combat areas around Tripoli for safety, while many are still stuck and in dire need of rescue and assistance. – LMI
Source: Rappler
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