“The Libyan authorities strongly condemn the violence committed against Egyptians living in Libya,” Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmi said at a press conference on Tuesday before leaving for Italy to attend a one-day international conference aiming to help re-establish security in Libya on Wednesday. The Libyan authorities were willing to help protect Egyptians living in Libya who have recently been subjected to violence and even kidnap, Fahmi added. “There are nearly one million Egyptians living in Libya. We are responsible for protecting them, but we cannot protect all of them. We urge them to register with our embassy in Libya and ask them to contact it when they need help,” he said, adding that the Italy conference could also be a way of finding solutions. The conference, hosted by an international group called the Friends of Libya, will be attended by representatives from 28 countries and international organisations. Meanwhile, the shooting of an Egyptian Christian and the killing of another seven over the last two weeks has aroused anger in Egypt and prompted calls for the Foreign Ministry to take further measures to protect Egyptians in the country. The Foreign Ministry described its “deep concern” at the shooting of an Egyptian Christian in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on Sunday. As the Al-Ahram Weekly went to print, the victim was in a critical condition. “Egypt is following the recurrent violence against Egyptians in Libya with deep concern,” the ministry said in a statement. Salama Fawzy Tobya had been shot by a gunman while at a grocery store in the Magoury area of Benghazi, the statement said. The victim was admitted to hospital in a critical condition. Egypt has reiterated its demands for the Libyan authorities to open an investigation into the attacks against Egyptians that have been taking place in the country in recent weeks. It has also called on the Libyan government to assume its responsibilities in providing security and protection for all Egyptians living in Libya. In a separate attack on the same day, gunmen also killed a Frenchman in Benghazi, the French foreign ministry condemning the incident as “odious and cowardly.” Sunday's shooting came less than a week after seven Egyptian Christians were found shot dead in Benghazi. The killings took place when a group of masked men abducted eight people from their apartments in the city. One managed to escape, and the rest were found shot dead on a beach outside Benghazi. Assassinations, kidnappings and car bombs are common in Libya, and Islamist gunmen are active in the area where the killings took place. In January, five Egyptian diplomats, including the cultural attaché and the administrative attaché, were kidnapped by unknown gunmen in the capital Tripoli. The five were freed two days later and arrived safely in Cairo, and Egypt then evacuated its remaining diplomats from Libya. The diplomats were allegedly kidnapped in retaliation for the arrest of Shaaban Hadia, a Libyan militiaman and leader of the Operations Room group. Hadia was released one day after the release of the diplomats and left for Libya. The Operations Room group was accused of briefly abducting Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan in Tripoli last October. Earlier in January, a British man and a New Zealand woman were shot execution-style on a beach southwest of Tripoli. In order to discuss the political situation and the developments in Libya, Fahmi held a meeting on Monday with senior staff responsible for Egypt's relations with Libya. The meeting discussed the present security and political situation and the measures that needed to be taken to protect Egyptian expatriates in Libya, Foreign Ministry spokesman Badr Abdel-Atti said. The foreign minister's assistant for neighbouring countries' affairs and the Egyptian ambassador to Libya also attended the meeting. The ambassador is still in Egypt after the embassy was earlier evacuated. The Foreign Ministry has issued a warning to Egyptian expatriates in Libya to be vigilant when they travel in Libya, given the present security situation in the country. They should contact the Egyptian embassy or consulate if they face problems. The hardline Islamist group Ansar Al-Sharia is active in the east of Libya, the Benghazi branch of which has been listed as a foreign terrorist organisation by Washington, which blames the group for the 2012 attack on the US consulate in Benghazi. Three years after the revolution that ousted former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Libya's weak government and army is struggling to impose its authority on anti-Gaddafi rebels and Islamist militias. Most of them are heavily armed, and they have refused to disarm and often remain more loyal to their brigades, tribal leaders or local regions than to the new Libyan government. Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians work in Libya, mostly as labourers, but their number has sharply diminished three years after the uprising.
