New openings for Bangladeshis in post-Gaddafi Libya

New openings for Bangladeshis in post-Gaddafi LibyaReturnees too will get back jobs they abandoned? Rabiul IslamFresh job opportunities await Bangladeshis in Libya as the troubled country will require an army of workers for post-war reconstruction as soon as a democratic government starts functioning.

?We will be in a position to export a huge workforce to Libya after a new government is sworn in?, Expatriates? Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Engineer Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain told daily sun on Monday.

Officials at the ministry added that Bangladeshi workers who were forced to return home from war-torn Libya are likely to get back their jobs in companies which they deserted fearing for their lives.

Libya?s transitional government declared the country liberated on Sunday three days after ousted despot Muammar Gaddafi was captured and killed.

Libya?s acting Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril said elections will be held by June next year.

?We have details of all Libya returnees who will be sent back to their respective companies when the employers contact with us,? an official preferring anonymity told daily sun.

The official also said many of the Libya returnees will not require to follow any procedure for going to Libya as they returned home before expiry of their work permit.

Sources at the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET), around 37,000 Bangladeshis escaped from Libya as violence escalated.

Earlier, the government declared that the Libya returnees would get priority in getting overseas jobs in future.

The expatriates? welfare minister said the Libya returnees will get priority in getting jobs abroad as they had to return home empty handed.

He also said many companies in Libya want to take back their employees.

But Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) secretary general Ali Haidar Chowdhury warned that workers will have to wait before luck smiles at them again.

It will take at least five months to send Bangladeshi workers in the war-torn Libya after formation of new government there, he added.

Ali Haidar also hoped that Libya will need huge manpower for construction sector.

Following massive allegation of irregularities and mismanagement, Libya had stopped hiring workers from Bangladesh before the war started in the middle of February.

Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Limited (BOESL) managing director Mohammad Abdullah said some multi-national companies have already approached BOESL to recruit Bangladeshi workers for Libya.

?I have held talks with Thitti Sianwala, an owner of multi-national company, who wants to recruit 200 workers for a construction firm in Libya,? BOESL MD said.

Source: daily-sun.com

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Bangladeshis caught in Libyan hell-hole

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
Terrified Bangladeshi families find refuge after fleeing heavy fighting between troops loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and rebels.Sirte: Desperate to escape rocket and machinegun fire in war-wracked Sirte, two terrified Bangladeshi families managed to emerge from front lines, but their relief was short lived.

Their pick-up truck broke down under sniper fire. ?Allahu Akhbar (God is Greatest), Allahu Akhbar,? shouted the passengers as they held hands before they fled through the pot holed streets of the city, bullets hissed over their heads.

?Too much fighting, no water, no food, no sleep,? sputtered Mohammad Nur, his mouth dry, as he crouched near a pile of blankets and bags. His wife held an infant in her arms next to another woman with her two children.

After the mad rush of a few minutes, the roar of fierce fighting between National Transitional Council fighters and Muammar Gaddafi loyalists started to ease.

Nur, who has been in Libya for 13 years as a construction worker, looked haggard and took gulps of air. The two families have been living in Sirte?s Number 2 area, at the heart of the last remaining pocket of Gaddafi loyalists.

?We were surrounded by fire, and soldiers, pro- and anti-Gaddafi,? he said. NTC ?fighters came to our rescue. They screamed Allahu Akhbar, so we knew it was them and we came out of the house.?

Nur said it is difficult to know if there are still a lot of civilians in central Sirte. He only knows that another Bangladeshi family lived a few blocks from his home.

On the edge of the city, a field hospital receives wounded fighters. The sight of an infant, a boy and girl put a smile of nurses? faces.

Fifteen minutes later, relief comes: The other Bangladeshi family joined Nur?s. ?Gaddafi soldiers told us not to get out of our house,? said exhausted Taha Saha.

?There was no electricity. Four days ago, we started to experience a shortage of water.? Saha said his family could hear missiles, bullets ?flying above our heads. We were afraid; we couldn?t sleep.? ?My father fell down on the way. He started crying.?

At the hospital, medics did not know what do with the Bangladeshi families. ?I don?t know where they will be sent but they will be taken good care of. They will get food, everything they need,? said Ahmed Mustapha.

The Mediterranean city of Sirte is the last stronghold of Gaddafi loyalists after the desert oasis of Bani Walid was overrun by NTC fighters on Monday. NTC fighters have captured most of Sirte, but the city is yet to fall as two neighbourhoods ?- Dollar and Number 2 ? are still under the control of Gaddafi loyalists.

The entire city, except the two neighbourhoods, is deserted and almost every building and house has been hit by bullets, rockets or artillery shells.

Families of former Libyan regime officials streamed out of the city on Monday, including the mother and brother of Gaddafi?s spokesman Mussa Ibrahim But not all civilians found Monday in Sirte?s Number 2 will receive the same treatment Nur and Saha got.

Two young Chadians have been arrested in a farm house behind the front line. They did not have weapons, but they were suspect, as they carried cash, gold, jewellery and mobile phones, possibly stolen.

?They were in a farm behind the front line, inside the battlefield. They did not have guns on them. They were bringing food to the Gaddafi soldiers,? said Captain Ahmed Sussi.

?We will continue our investigation. Maybe they were forced to do it, maybe not.? ?AFP

Source: daily-sun.com

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