Tunisians kidnapped in Libya released

Some 100 Tunisian workers kidnapped by armed men in western Libya have been released, Tunisia said Wednesday after a diplomatic row in which Tripoli denied any abductions had occurred. "The Tunisians kidnapped in Libya have been freed," Tunisia's interior ministry said in a statement. The statement claimed the workers' seizure had been retaliation for the arrest of Libyan nationals in Tunisia, and said Tunis had released three Libyans arrested on April 14 near the border between the north African countries. The ministry said the Libyans had already returned home, and that Tunis was working with authorities in Libya to assure the Tunisians' safe return. On another matter, the spokesman of the Libyan foreign minister, Colonel Abdel Moneim Iyad, denied and refuted the earlier claim by the Tunisian foreign ministry of the abduction of Tunisians in Libya. The Libyan foreign minister said that the news is unfounded. In this same context, the head of the higher security committee of the Libyan interior ministry, Tarek Zambo, refuted the news, noting there was a sit-in in protest by rebels against the detention of three rebels in Tunisia, in which the rebel protestors only held a group of Tunisian in order to convince them to join their movement. He added that this is cannot be classified as abduction, as the the sit-in has ended and the Tunisians are now free. Zambo put the blame for the incident on remnants of officials from the former regime, aiming at destabilizing and ruining Libyan-Tunisian relationships. For its part the Syrian authorities declared Wednesday that a Libyan armed group released 80 Tunisian citizens that it arrested on Monday in response to the detention of three Libyans in Tunisia. The Tunisian ministry of interior said in a statement that the Tunisians who were arrested in Libya, mainly in the city of  al-Zawiya, have been released. The statement added that since the outbreak of this issue, the Tunisian authorities have been in contact with their Libyan counterparts to secure the release of the Tunisians, as well as to resolve the issue in the framework of fraternal relations between the two people. It is should be noted that the Tunisian League for the Defense of Human Rights and the Tunisian foreign ministry had earlier  declared this news of the armed Libyans kidnapping about 164 Tunisian workers and technicians in the city of al-Zawiya, which lies 45 kilometres west of Libyan capital Tripoli. It is also interesting to note that the border area between the two countries regularly witnesses incidents. Moreover, it constitutes a main area for all types of smuggling.