Egyptians, the largest group of foreigners in Libya are taking great pains to flee the riot-torn country, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported on Thursday.
Egypt's domestic market lacks sufficient jobs to employ all of its citizens and for that reason Libya has traditionally been a popular and easy destination for Egyptian job seekers. Between one and one and a half million Egyptians had been living and working in Libya before the beginning of the bloody nationwide revolution, which aims to oust longstanding strongman Muammar Gaddafi.
Gaddafi has already lost control over the eastern part of the country; however, in the West, hired foreign thugs continue to terrorize the locals. According to news reports from Libya, Gaddafi's regime has hired foreigners from the Mideast and African countries because it does not trust the national army or police. The main objective of the "thugs for hire" is to rein in the protestors and scare activists in the opposition.
Egypt plans to send 15 planes to evacuate its citizens from Libya. "It's forbidden to leave Tripoli, it's impossible to reach the airport - those who try to do this are subjected to attacks with gunfire," Mustafa Mahmoud, an Egyptian national who managed to flee Libya, said. Mahmoud said he has seen dozens of bodies in one of the hospitals in Tripoli. "There are dozens of corpses there, I plead for any official powers to intervene in what's going on," he said.
A large crowd of people has gathered waiting at the Libyan-Egyptian border for a pass into Egypt. Libyan border guards have abandoned their posts at the border with Egypt.
SALLOUM (Egypt, border with Libya) February 24 (RIA Novosti)
