Four
Italian construction workers have been kidnapped inLibyanear an
industrial complex owned by the Italian energy giant Eni in the western city of
Mellitah, Italy’sForeign Ministry said Monday.
A ministry statement said the four were employees of the Bonatti
construction company.
The kidnapping occurred Sunday evening and family members had been informed
overnight, Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said in Brussels, adding that
intelligenceagents were working to get more information on the
circumstances of the kidnapping.
The ministry noted it had closed its embassy inLibyaon Feb. 15
and urged Italians to leave the North African nation because of the dangers.
Many Italians work in oil, gasand construction sectors inLibya,
which was an Italian colony for much of the first half of the 1900s.
Libyahas slid into chaos since the 2011 overthrow and killing of
longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi. It is now bitterly divided between an
elected parliament andgovernment cornered in the country’s east, with
little power on the ground, and an Islamist militia-backed government in the
west that has seized the capital of Tripoli.
Foreigners are often taken hostage inLibya, either for ransom and of
because of their Christian faith.
Some, like 10 Tunisian diplomats seized by gunmen from government-linked
militias last month, were freed after demands were met. Last month, an Italian
doctorkidnapped in January was also freed.
But others, like dozens of Ethiopians and Egyptian Christians who were
seized by Islamic State extremists earlier this year, have been beheaded or
shot dead in gruesomekillings filmed and later broadcast by the group.
Most governments advise their citizens to avoid travel toLibya.
Hundreds of militias inLibyaare aligned with either side or on
their own, battling for power and turf in a lawless environment has allowed
human traffickers and kidnappersto flourish.Libyais a huge
gathering point for desperate migrants seeking to reach Europe and the
smugglers who prey on them.
The U.N. envoy forLibya, meanwhile, has urged the Islamist-led
government in Tripoli to sign a peace deal that would establish a unity
government. Members ofLibya’sinternationally recognized parliament,
now based in the eastern city of Tobruk, and regional leaders initialed the
unity accord in Morocco on July 11.
Italy closed its embassy in Libya in February as the North African country
sunk further into violence, with two rival governments operating their own
armed forces underseparate parliaments, four years after a civil war that
ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi.
http://www.neurope.eu/article/italians-kidnapped-in-libya/