Tunisia Sunday said its 14 citizens held hostage in neighboring Libya have been freed following the intervention of Libyan authorities. The Tunisian foreign ministry expressed satisfaction at the release of the fourteen Tunisian workers, kidnapped on February 14 by a Libyan armed militia in Zaouia. The kidnappers had claimed the release of a Libyan detainee involved in a common law case in Tunisia. The Foreign Ministry specified, in a statement released Sunday night, that contacts had been made with the released Tunisian workers to check on their health condition. They later on posted a video on social media calling the Tunisian government to intervene for their release in exchange of the liberation of a Libyan prisoner in Tunisia.

Source: The North Africa Journal February 18, 2019 13:18 UTC