First Secretary of the Indonesian embassy in Tunis Boy Dharmawan told ANTARA`s London correspondent Monday that the Tunisian military has declared full alertness in the border area in anticipation of increased armed conflict.
He said several clashes including rocket attacks from Kaddafi`s loyal followers had entered Tunisia.
The Tunisian government said the shower of bullets of Kaddhafi`s soldiers into Tunisia was a very serious negligence on the part of the Tunisian government in taking actions in defending the country`s sovereignty.
The chaos prompted Tunisia to tighten its military security border between Tunisia and Libya in the Ras Jedir and Dehiba border posts, he said.
And the Tunisian government applied a new policy requiring every evacuee to have immigration papers and visas before entering Tunisia.
Boy Dharmawan said this made it difficult to evacuate the Indonesians from Libya as many migrant workers being evacuated did not have the required immigration papers.
In the meantime, to protect the Indonesians and avoid undesired things, the Indonesian embassy in Tunis called on two TVOne reporters Metalia and Robin to cancel their plan to enter Libya through the Dehiba-Wazin border post, and leave the area immediately because armed clashes may break out any time.
Kaddhafi`s soldiers would resort to everything to take over the area as it is the main gate linking anti-Kaddhafi forces and the outside world, and the main route of their logistic supplies.
Since NATO forces killed Kaddhafi`s youngest son Saif el-Arab and three of his grand children, security in Tripoli and eastern Libya had been worsening.
Clashes between Kaddhafi`s loyalists and anti-Kaddhafi forces in the western hills like Zintan and Nalut, had been increasing.
The area, especially in Nalut near the Wazin-Dehiba border post is very strategic and developed into a battle ground of the two conflicting parties, and controlled alternately by Kaddhafi`s forces and the rebels.
Some of the Indonesian housemaids (TKWs) had left their employees and as their passports were held by their employers they did not have them and therefore cannot leave Libya, and some of their employers even also left the country taking with them the passports of the TKWs they have left behind.
Right now the Indonesian embassy in Tunis managed to help Indonesians to enter the country and took care of their papers to enter the capital city, thanks to the good relations between the embassy and some Tunisian authorities, as well as the cooperation with the relevant international agencies like the International Organization for Migration (IOM), NGO (ADRA), UNHCR, and the Thai embassy in Tripoli.
The evacuation of Indonesians was made possible thanks to cooperation and coordination between the embassy and Muhammad Abdul Hafiz, Kaddhafi`s close friend who had been accommodating TKWs who have fled their employment ever since the Indonesian embassy in Tripoli had been closed.
Muhammad Abdul Hafiz, owner of the embassy building in Tripoli, who brought the TKWs because no driver had the guts to take the housemaids to the Tunisia-Libya border.
With the arrival of the four housemaids, since the embassy in Tripoli was closed on March 27, 2011, the Indonesian embassy in Tunis managed to evacuate 27 Indonesians from Libya by land, including 24 migrant workers and three others were Metro TV reporters.
The four housemaids were Siti Fatima Binti Radi Rahmat (30) from Malang, Susi Rusmiati Ubad (26) and Latipah BT Endah Bahria (42) from Cianjur and Masiyah BT Rada Tolib (33) from Brebes.
In the meantime Embassy Second Secretary in Tunis Sugiri Suparwan accompanied the five housemaids from Libya last Tuesday.
They were Siti Ropiah Tukimun Bakrul (38) from Banyuwangi, Sardonah Binti Idris Rakwad (30) from Subang, Hartini BT Boimin Ngasmo (41) from Kendal, Kasniti BT Sudirman Kalsum (25) from Indramayu and iti Saroh Sartiman (26) from Tangerang.
Up till now a total of 587 Indonesians had been evacuated from Libya through Tunisia for repatriation to Indonesia, including 583 repatriated with facilities.(*)
ZG/H-NG/S012
Editor: Jafar M Sidik
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
