Diplomatic Briefing
Your exclusive news aggregator handpicked daily!Archive for August 2, 2014
Newsline: Britain closes embassy and withdraws staff from Libya
Britain closed its embassy in the embattled Libyan capital, Tripoli, on Friday night evacuating staff in tacit recognition that the country is now in a state of war. The UK was, with Italy, one of the last embassies to remain in Libya in a week that has seen mass evacuations by diplomats, including the United States, France, Germany, Japan and the Netherlands. With militia fighting worsening across the country and Libya’s government having effectively collapsed, London appeared to feel it had no option but to withdraw its diplomats. Ambassador Michael Aron tweeted: “Reluctantly we’ve decided we have to leave and temporarily suspend Embassy operations in Libya. We will be back as soon as security allows.” He said the embassy staff would continue to function, operating from neighbouring Tunisia.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/02/british-embassy-withdraws-libya-attacks-ambushes
Newsline: No one comes out of Ukrainian embassy in Moscow to meet with refugees
Hundreds of refugees gathered near the Ukrainian embassy in Moscow, but no one came out to meet with them. Women and children stood at the fence for more than an hour, asking for help to process documents and demanding to open humanitarian corridors. “When I left, on July 11, all the borders were closed. We failed to go to Rostov. It was luck that we managed to get to Moscow,” Elena, a woman from Donetsk, told ITAR-TASS. “But we all are grateful to Russia for a place where we can escape, where our lives is out of danger,” said a woman from Luhansk, who came with her small daughter.
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