Andhra Pradesh urges MEA for steps to bring back workers stuck in Libya

NEW DELHI: Amidst spiralling violence in Libya, Andhra Pradesh government today sought the Centre's intervention to evacuate the people from the state who are working in the North African country.

"I request that suitable instructions may be issued to the Indian Embassy to interfere and provide all necessary aid in terms of food, clothing and shelter to Andhra Pradesh migrants and also to arrange to bring them back," AP's Special Representative, K Rama Mohana Rao, said in a letter to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

Citing media reports, Rao said that several people from AP who had migrated to Libya for employment are stranded with the civil war in the country having gradually intensified.

Most of the AP workers are semi-skilled and unskilled labourers employed in remote areas of the violence-ravaged country, Rao said as he raised concern over their safety.

"They (the AP workers) need to be brought to the areas of safety before they can return to India. As they are poor, they may not be in a position to pay for their travel home. Therefore, necessary assistance needs to be provided for their return," he added.

Two weeks of fighting between militias in Libya's capital Tripoli has left 97 people dead.