Two Abducted Serbs Remain Missing In Libya

Two abducted Serbian diplomatic staffers remain missing in Libya despite positive statements from the Serbian authorities that the abductors were located on Sunday.

"We hope to resolve this situation in the coming 48 hours with a positive outcome," Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said on Sunday.

On Monday, Vucic said he "expects the situation to be resolved any moment."

On Wednesday, he said he is certain they are alive, but refused to give more details.

The two employees of the Serbian embassy in Tripoli, Sladjana Stankovic and Jovica Stepic, were abducted near the Libyan town of Sabrath on Sunday on their way to Tunisia.

They were in a convoy of cars with the Serbian ambassador Oliver Potezica who was also travelling with his family. He managed to escape the abductors.

"The attackers staged a car crash and hit an embassy car from the back and when the driver got out of one of our cars, they pulled him into their car," Potezica told Tanjug news agency on Sunday.

According to Potezica, they then forced Stankovic to leave her car and get into their vehicle before driving off.

Jamal Zubia, spokesman for the Tripoli administration, said the Serbian convoy was traveling without authorization. "The diplomats breached the rules," he told the Libyan media.

The rules of diplomatic mission in Libya forbade them from moving outside a 30-kilometre zone around Tripoli without telling the administration.

According to the local government, the convoy would have been given a security escort had the Serbs given advance notice.

The Serbian Foreign Ministry did not respond to a BIRN inquiry about whether the convoy had all the permits.

On Tuesday, Serbia also sent several security officers to a field mission to...