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By Ajnadin Mustafa.
Tripoli, 12 May 2015:
The Egyptian government is trying to confirm reports that some of its citizens have been detained . . .[restrict]in Libya accused of illegal immigration and lacking proper papers.
The Foreign Ministry spokesman Badr Adel Atti said today that Egypt’s ambassador to Libya, currently relocated to Cairo was seeking to contact the Libyan authorities and tribal elders to follow up news of the arrests put on on the Libyan media.
If the reports are correct, it would appear that the Egyptians have been detained in territory controlled by the government. At least half a million Egyptians throughout the country have defied their government’s warning to quit Libya. The exodus, primarily of Coptic Christians that followed the IS beheading of 20 of their coreligionists in February, has dwindled to a trickle. Meanwhile, it seems clear that Egyptian nationals are still being smuggled into Libya, even though they lack the correct visas and work permits.
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