Tunisia shuts Libya consulate over abductions

Tunisia said Friday it was shutting its consulate in conflict-hit Libya as 10 staffers abducted by an armed militia in Tripoli returned home after a week in captivity.

The staff were seized when gunmen burst into the consulate in the Libyan capital, in the latest attack targeting foreign citizens and diplomatic missions in the lawless nation.

Libya descended into chaos after a revolt unseated and killed longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.

It now has rival governments and parliaments, as well as powerful militias battling for influence and a share of its oil wealth, including the Fajr Libya militia alliance that controls Tripoli.

Tunisian Foreign Minister Taieb Baccouche said the decision to shut the consulate was taken after the kidnapping.

"After this serious incident (kidnapping), we have decided to close the consulate in Tripoli," Baccouche told reporters.

"We will not reopen the consulate as long as protection for our civil servants is not guaranteed," he said.

"When that protection becomes available, we will rethink" our options, said Baccouche, whose country has a consulate in Tripoli and another in the east.

He was speaking at the L'Aouina military airport in Tunis, where several of the ex-hostages arrived Friday morning.

Ex-hostage Jamal Saibi related to reporters how a group of armed men had stormed the consulate last week, rounding him and his colleagues up.

"They took us out of the building, put us in cars and drove us somewhere along the airport road," he said.

- Tunisia denies deal -

Baccouche had earlier announced that the 10 staffers had been released -- three of them Wednesday and the rest Friday.

He said that now all 23 consular workers who were in Libya are back home and safe.

Saibi said the staffers were abducted because the gunmen wanted to press Tunisian authorities to release a jailed Libyan militia chief, Walid Glib.

Tunisian officials and media reported that Glib, who was arrested last month in connection with "terrorist" activity, was released Friday.

"He left prison Friday at dawn," director of prison facilities Ridah Zaghdoud told AFP.

Baccouche denied any deal was struck with the kidnappers in exchange for the release of the consular workers.

"We will not accept extorsion," he said.

Last month, militiamen allegedly linked to Glib seized 245 Tunisians in Tripoli to press for his release. They subsequently freed them unharmed.

Foreign citizens and missions have been frequently targeted in Libya, including in Tripoli which was overrun last year by Fajr Libya following fierce clashes with rival militias.

The fighting sparked an exodus of foreigners, and many embassies were shut as Fajr Libya installed a government last year opposed to the internationally recognised administration.

The Islamic State group has taken advantage of the chaos to gain supporters in Libya.

IS claimed responsibility for twin attacks in April, one on the South Korean embassy that killed two Libyans and another on the Moroccan mission that caused no casualties.

In January, the Libyan branch of the jihadist group claimed the killing of two Tunisian journalists who had gone missing in eastern Libya eight months earlier.

And last year a Tunisian diplomat and an embassy employee were kidnapped by an armed group before being released.

Ambassador Christopher Stevens was among four Americans killed at the US consulate in Benghazi on September 11, 2012, in an attack blamed on Al-Qaeda-linked militants.
Source: AFP