DUSHANBE, August 23, 2011, Asia-Plus — According to the Tajik MFA information department, two Tajik nationals still remain in unrest-torn Libya – Abdurazzoq Ikromov, the fourth-year student from the International Al-Da’wa Islamic University in Tripoli, and Abduhalim Odinayev, an employee of the personnel department at the Summa Company (Turkey).
“The Tajik side has asked the Russian Embassy in Tripoli for help in evacuating them from Libya in case of necessity,” Davlat Nazriyev, a spokesman for the Tajik MFA, said.
According to the Tajik MFA, there were 28 Tajik nationals in Libya, most of them students. As it had been reported earlier, Tajikistan in February solicited Russian help in evacuating Tajik nationals from Libya, as Tajikistan does not have a diplomatic mission in Tripoli. The Tajik Embassy in Cairo worked with the Russian Embassy there to help resolve the problem. In the first weeks after the armed clashes began in Libya on February 15, 20 Tajik nationals were evacuated from there due to help of the Russian Federation. Six others were evacuated along with 48 citizens of Russia and 53 citizens of Belarus by a plane of Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations from Tripoli on March 30.
In the meantime, international media outlets report fighting in Tripoli has restarted. Both sides say they control most of the capital.
According to the BBC, government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim claimed pro-Gaddafi forces had control of at least 75% of the city, while the rebels said on Monday night they controlled almost all of it. Members of the rebels” National Transitional Council (NTC) in Benghazi say they plan to fly to the capital on Wednesday to start work on forming a new government.
Reuters reports hundreds seem to have been killed or wounded since Saturday.
World leaders urged Colonel Gaddafi to surrender to prevent more bloodshed and appealed for an orderly transition of power, as the six-month-old battle for control of the oil-producing nation appeared to enter its final stages.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon voiced alarm on August 11 over recent reports of civilians killed in Libya”s civil war and called on all sides to do as much as possible to avoid killing innocent people. “The Secretary-General is deeply concerned by reports of the unacceptably large number of civilian casualties as a result of the conflict in Libya,” Ban”s press office said in a statement.
