MASERU – The government has recalled all Lesotho Embassy staff and their families from war-torn Libya as the situation in that country deteriorates.
Foreign Affairs and International Relations Minister Mohlabi Tsekoa told parliament last Tuesday that locals who had been in Libya were evacuated in early March.
“Honourable members, you know that in one of the African countries, Libya, that I have been talking about, our officials of Lesotho have been evacuated from that war-torn country,” Tsekoa said.
Chief information officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Teboho Mapetla told the Lesotho Times yesterday that all evacuees were safe.
“The representatives of Lesotho that were in Libya were the ambassador, two officials and their family members,” Mapetla said.
She said the government of Kenya offered a plane to all African governments that wanted to evacuate their nationals from Libya, an offer Lesotho took advantage of.
Libya has endured weeks of aerial bombardment by Western countries that accuse long-serving ruler Muammar Gadaffi of slaughtering civilians.
The UN Security Council mandated the international community to impose a no-fly zone in Libya and use “all means necessary” to stop Gadaffi’s forces from massacring their own people.
Rebels, who are mainly in the east of Libya, had been pushed by loyalist Gadaffi forces but have begun to make advances towards the capital with the help of Western powers who have been bombing government soldiers.
The armed rebels and civilians are demanding an end to Gadaffi’s four-decade iron-fisted rule.
