[ALOCHONA] We are alone abroad

We are alone abroad

Ashfaqur Rahman



Last week our government was in a pickle over the repatriation of Bangladeshis from Libya.The political situation in that country had indeed deteriorated. Other than the capital Tripoli, most of Libya was in the hands of the revolutionaries. They demanded that the Libyan leader Muammer Qaddafi step down. There were fighting in several cities as Qaddafi held on to power with his fingernails.

Qaddafi threatened that he would start a house to house search and ferret out the rebels. He also warned that he would open the state arsenals and distribute the arms to his sycophants to kill the revolutionaries.

He sent his fighter aircraft and helicopter gunships over rebel held towns and bombed and strafed innocent people. There were numerous incidents of killing of civilians by his militia. In protest some of his ministers, diplomats and members of the armed forces defected to the rebels.

The revolutionaries, in the meantime, had taken over the second city Benghazi. They also freed many townships close to Tripoli. Many desert oases where tribes dwell went over to the side of the rebels.

A National Council with a military committee was formed by the former justice minister, who had defected to the rebels.

The United Nations Security Council swung into action and in an unprecedented Saturday evening session unanimously passed a historic resolution imposing an arms embargo on Qaddafi, and financial sanctions and travel ban on him and his close associates. The Council also referred the situation to the International Criminal Court for investigation and possible prosecution for crimes against humanity.

For the first time the Security Council also included a critical reference to Libya's "responsibility to protect" its own citizens from any mass atrocities.

Later in the week, in a larger meeting in the UN Offices in Geneva, the international community called on Qaddafi to step down. It also laid out plans for humanitarian assistance to all foreigners escaping the violence for their return home. The International Red Cross, the IOM and the UNCHR were activated for this purpose.

In the meantime, several governments from around the world sent aircraft and ships to bring their citizens home or to remove them to safer places nearby. Many foreigners trudged to the border between Libya and

Tunisia or between Libya and Egypt with the intention of crossing over to safer places.

However, our government did not take a decision to evacuate 60,000 or more of our citizens stranded in violence-torn Libya. Most of our workers were abandoned by their Libyan employers and did not have food, medicine or even money. A few who were employed by Chinese and Korean companies were lucky to be repatriated.

The foreign secretary of Bangladesh categorically said that "our primary concern is the safety and security of the 60,000 Bangladeshi workers who are in Libya. Evacuation is an option." What this statement meant was that evacuation was not the government's priority. It wants the Bangladeshi's trapped in Libya to remain where they are till the situation improves.

The possible argument of the government is that once our workers leave Libya they would not be compensated for their loss and would not be able to get their jobs back. Finding new jobs for the returnees would become the government's responsibility. This would be a sticky proposition for the government.

But what happens if our workers in Libya are killed or maimed? Who will take the responsibility? That is why the government was perhaps in search of manpower companies who had taken them to Libya in the first place. The government perhaps wants these companies to take responsibilities of these workers.

In a number of ways, it is a matter of shame if the government had this in mind. How irresponsible to ask our workers to wait in Libya and wait out the storm. The very essence of good governance is being deliberately violated.

The government has a responsibility to secure the safety of its citizens. It must, through any legitimate means, obtain resources to do the needful. If it faces a policy dilemma it can always go to Parliament and seek wise counsel.

The Bangladesh government has past experience in evacuating its citizens from foreign countries. In 1982, after the invasion of Lebanon by Israel, 600 Bangladeshis caught up in the conflict and kept in a concentration camp at Ansar in Israel were air-lifted through the auspices of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent to Dhaka.

Again, after the First Gulf War 60,000 Bangladeshis trapped in Jordan were brought back by chartered planes hired by various philanthropic organisations. Our government is aware of the logistics, resources and manpower needed.

Our government should have chartered one or more Bangladesh Shipping Corporation ships or any other national or international vessels and, under naval protection, should have waited off the Libyan coast flying our flag. A government task force, after assessing the situation on the ground, could signal the start of the evacuation process. The ships could either bring them back or wait in a safe harbour nearby, depending on the situation in Libya. It could be a costly venture, but imagine the psychological and the long-term economic gain to our workers there.

It is now quite humiliating to watch news reports and pictures of thousands of our citizens massing on the border of either Tunisia or Egypt, huddling together waiting for some international organisation to rescue them; an image which we, as a democratic country, definitely wish to avoid.

When will our government send the correct signals to the international community that we are a responsible nation and can confidently look after the image and interest of our people.

The Bangladesh Embassy in Tripoli is a non-starter. It has only one diplomat there at the moment, who doubles as the ambassador. Why has this mission not been staffed properly? Is this the case with our other Middle East missions now?

The foreign minister and the expatriate affairs minister both need to tell Parliament why they could not assure our workers in Libya that our government, in these uncertain times, is able to take care of our citizens in Libya? Why do our citizens feel alone when they are faced with mortal danger abroad?

The writer is a former Ambassador and Chairman of the Centre for Foreign Affairs Studies.

E-mail: Ashfaq303@hotmail.com

http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=176495

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