Mohamed El-Sayed reports on the mass exodus of Egyptian labour from Libya An estimated 35,000 Egyptian workers in Libya have crossed the border back to Egypt in the last two weeks. The mass departure followed the imposition of new laws regulating the status of foreign workers. Returning labourers say their decision to leave was a result of the new regulations enforced by Libya's Ministry of Manpower under which they are required to pay monthly 25 Libyan dinars in income tax, 14 dinars for insurance, 15 dinars for an Arab identity card and 60 dinars for an accredited work permit. The Libyan authorities, report the returnees, have launched a campaign that includes visits to the homes of workers to check they are in possession of health, insurance and tax certificates as well as an accredited labour contract. Should any of the papers be missing, the authorities demand the worker to leave. Those who approached the Egyptian Embassy in Tripoli for help say they were told to depart the country if they could not meet the conditions. As officials at the Salloum border-crossing struggle to cope with the growing number of Egyptians returning home, Minister of Labour Aisha Abdel-Hadi has insisted that "everything is normal". "The movement of workers across the Egyptian-Libyan border is seasonal. There is no reason to worry about Egyptian workers in Libya. They receive good treatment," said Abdel-Hadi. Officials at the Foreign Ministry say they alerted workers in early February to the changes governing employment in Libya, advising them to procure a health certificate and ensure they had a legally binding contract of employment. "The problem is that some Libyan employers are reluctant to apply for work permits for their Egyptian employees since, under the new procedures, they would then become liable for tax and other social security payments," says Mohamed Meneisi, assistant at the Foreign Ministry for consular affairs . The new regulations appear to run counter to the spirit of the 1990 Four Freedoms Agreement between Egypt and Libya which states that citizens of the two countries can move freely across the border without visas and which enshrines their right to work in each other's territories. Libyan Prime Minister Al-Baghdadi Al-Hammoudi stressed this week that the furore over the new rules did not signify a crisis: Libya, he said, "still respects... the Four Freedoms Agreement signed between the two countries". The situation on the ground, though, appears to tell a different story. Last month a senior Libyan delegation arrived in Egypt to discuss issues related to manpower, security and foreign relations with Minister of Manpower Abdel-Hadi, Minister of Interior Habib El-Adli, and Minister of Foreign Cooperation Faiza Abul-Naga. One of their tasks was to agree on regulations fixing the status of Egyptian workers in Libya. At the time officials from both sides insisted any changes would not impact on the lives of Egyptian workers. The agreements and protocols signed between the two countries, however, are now proving little more than ink on paper. An informed source within the Foreign Ministry, speaking on condition of anonymity, says the Egyptian Ministry of Manpower is behind the current confusion. "Egyptian workers used to move and work freely in Libya until Abdel-Hadi signed a protocol last December to legalise the status of Egyptian workers in Libya. The Libyan authorities allowed a grace period, which ended in February, for workers to affirm their legal status," he said. "The problem has arisen now because the minister of manpower signed a protocol without seeming to know there was already an agreement, signed in 1990 on the prime ministerial level, allowing for the free movement of workers between the two countries without work permits, insurance certificate, passports, health certificates, etc." "I don't know why Abdel-Hadi signed the protocol, or why she didn't refer to the Foreign Ministry," says the source. The Libyan minister of manpower was scheduled to pay a visit to Egypt yesterday. Despite his ministry's announcement that charges for the necessary documents are to be cut by half, it is by no means clear that this will help stem the tide of returning Egyptian workers.
