Romania closes down its Libya embassy

TRIPOLI (AA) – Romania late on Friday announced the temporary closure of its embassy in the Libyan capital Tripoli and also the evacuation of its citizens from Libya because of the country's deteriorating security conditions. The Romanian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it would move its Libya diplomatic mission to neighboring Tunisia, according to the official Libyan news agency.
The Foreign Ministry said it had evacuated 112 Romanians from Libya so far upon their own request. The ministry had even appealed to Romanians to immediately leave Libya without any delay, the official Libyan news agency said.
Bucharest said on Saturday that it would keep its embassy in Tripoli open to offer help to Romanian citizens in Libya. It did not, however, rule out the possibility that it could suspend the activities of the embassy in case Libya's security conditions keep deteriorating.
Libya's security conditions deteriorated even more in the past few weeks when clashes broke out between Islamist militias and the army.
The North African country has been suffering a surge in lawlessness since a bloody uprising brought the 41-year autocracy of the late ruler Muammar Gaddafi to an end in 2011.
Several foreign governments pulled their citizens and diplomatic missions out of Libya as the country's violence kept rising in pitch.
By Moataz al-Majbari