India appoints new envoy to Libya a year after reopening embassy

New Delhi: India on Thursday appointed an ambassador to Libya after a gap of several years, with the move coming a little more than a year after the reopening of the embassy in Tripoli.

Hifzur Rahman, currently the ambassador to Chad, was named as the envoy to Libya. Rahman is expected to take up the assignment shortly, the external affairs ministry said.

India reopened its embassy in Libya in July 2024, a little more than five years after it was closed because of the worsening security situation in the North African country, which continues to be home to about 3,000 Indian nationals.

The mission was maintained by a skeletal staff, including a consular clerk, until it was reopened last year. It was then headed by the chargé d'affaires, Mohammed Aleem.

Since the closure of the embassy in April 2019, the Indian envoy to Tunisia had been handling relations with Libya.

In 2014, about 3,800 Indian nationals, including six kidnapped by the Islamic State, were repatriated from Libya because of the fragile political and security situation in the country. The mission in Tripoli resumed its operations in 2012 but was closed down again in April 2019 due to the worsening security situation.

Among the activities that were resumed at the Indian embassy in Tripoli last year were granting visas to Libyan citizens and checking employment conditions for Indian expatriates.

Libya's National Unity Government has been reaching out to more countries to reopen their embassies in the country.

Prior to the uprising against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, about 18,000 Indians worked in the country. Despite the poor security situation in recent years, hundreds of Indians have made their way back to Libya through third countries in search of jobs.

In September 2020, seven Indian workers were kidnapped while on their way from Benghazi to Tripoli. In February 2022, 27 Indian workers were evacuated from Benghazi in eastern Libya with the help of the International Organisation for Migration.

Libya continues to be divided between two administrations, one based in the east and another in the western capital of Tripoli. The two sides signed a ceasefire in 2020, and the internationally recognised National Unity Government was formed in Tripoli in 2021.

Source: HindustanTimes
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