On Monday, the Libyan Prime Minister-designate, Fathi Bashagha thanked Saudi Arabia for its efforts to evacuate members of the Libyan community stranded in Sudan, and to facilitate their return to Libya.
In a tweet, Bashagha confirmed the depth of brotherly relations between the two countries.
On his part, the Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity (GNU) Abdel-Hamid Dbaiba said: “We are following the process of evacuating Libyan nationals from Sudan. We appreciate the role of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in facilitating the procedures.”
The Libyan Embassy in Sudan said that 105 nationals have been evacuated to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The Embassy stated that the Libyans who were evacuated were employees of the diplomatic mission and their families, students, and employees of Libyan institutions operating in Sudan. They were evacuated by sea through Port Sudan to Jeddah.
Libyan Ambassador to Sudan, Fawzi Boumrez confirmed that the evacuation took place in coordination with the Saudi Embassy in Sudan. He pointed out that the process of transferring Libyans from Saudi Arabia will be by air, via a Libyan Airlines plane.
Days ago, the Libyan Embassy in Sudan announced that it has evacuated 83 stranded Libyans in Khartoum, transferring them to safer places. The evacuated Libyans were moved to the city of Port Sudan, as a first step before arranging their repatriation to Libya.
Notably, a high-ranking Libyan military official warned of the repercussions of the armed clashes in Sudan, on the situation in Libya.
He called for the closure of the common borders with Sudan, until the situation calms down.
The Commander of the Military Organization and Administration Authority in southern Libya, Brigadier General Abdel-Salam Al-Busaifi appealed to the Chiefs of Staff in the East and West of Libya to quickly close the borders.
He urged them to “assign striking military forces to protect them, and prevent any infiltration and to station reconnaissance planes at Kufra Airport.”
“I think it will be a long-term war, and we have to close our border like what Chad has done since the start of the clashes in Sudan,” Al-Bousaifi said in press statements. He pointed out that the southeast region would be most affected if the clashes spread to Libya.
