"We have reported to the President that in essence our embassy will remain open although the number of staff has been reduced," er Marty said at the presidential palace here on Monday.
The Indonesian ambassador to Libya Ibnu Said, according to Marty, had reported that 20 out of the 24 Indonesian nationals at the embassy had left for Tunisia on Monday.
"The group consists of nine embassy staff and 11 migrant workers so that only four people are left at our embassy and these four will keep the mission functioning to serve Indonesians who might need protection," he said.
The four staff members remaining at the embassy were two diplomats, including the ambassador. and two local staff.
"We will continue evaluating. Our staff is authorized to immediately close the embassy if conditions worsen as they are the ones who could give the best evaluation of the situation," he said.
Minister Marty said several countries had already closed their embassies in Tripoli or stopped their activity due to increasing tension in the oil exporting country.
"Today, the staffs of the Vietnamese and Indian embassies also left the country. Most foreign embassies in Tripoli have closed. To my knowledge, only the Philippine and Indonesian embassies are still open although their staffs have been cut," he said.
Overall, Marty said, a total of 839 Indonesian nationals in Libya had so far been evacuated to Tunisia.
P008/H-YH/HAJM/R013
Editor: Jafar M Sidik
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
