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| Africa North |
| Libya Says Freed Egypt Diplomats to Return Home Soon |
| 2014-01-28 |
| [An Nahar] Libya's prime minister said Monday five Egyptian diplomats kidnapped in Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... and freed as part of an apparent prisoner swap will return to their homeland "in a few hours". Kidnappers snatched four Egyptian diplomats in Tripoli on Saturday, the day after another member of the embassy in the city was taken. The abductions came after a prominent commander in Libya's 2011 rebellion that ousted dictator Muammar Qadaffy ...The late megalomaniac dictator of Libya, admired everywhere for his garish costumes, funny hats, harem of cutie bodyguards, and incoherent ravings. As far as is known, he is the only person who's ever declared jihad on Switzerland... was incarcerated ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... in the Egyptian city of Alexandria. All five were freed late on Sunday, Libya's foreign ministry said. On Monday, Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan ... served as a diplomat for Libya during the 1970s, serving in India under Ambassador Mohammed Magariaf. Both men defected in 1980 and went on to form the National Front for the Salvation of Libya. Zeidan spent nearly three decades in exile in Geneva after the defection. During the revolution Zeidan served as the National Transitional Council's Europe envoy, and is credited as having played a key role in persuading French President Nicolas Sarkozy to support the anti-Qadaffy forces... said they would return home soon. "The freed Egyptian diplomats will travel to Egypt in a few hours," Zeidan told a news conference. The kidnappings came shortly after the arrest in Alexandria of Shaaban Hadeia, leader of the 2011 uprising. Hadeia, head of the Operations Centre of Libya's Thuwar, a group of ex-rebels that fought Qadaffy, announced his release himself on television. A security source in Tripoli told AFP the kidnappers freed the diplomats as part of a deal between Libya and Egypt. Zeidan said the kidnapping had "tarnished the image of Libya, now considered a country that does not respect international laws". But he added the incident "will not affect relations" between the countries, saying the Egyptian mission's staff, who left Libya after the kidnappings, would return to Tripoli soon. |
| Posted by:Fred |