GENEVA: Libyan authorities have ordered the UN refugee agency to shut its office in Libya and leave the country, an agency spokeswoman said on Tuesday.
"We have received instructions by the Libyan government for UNHCR to cease its activities in Libya, basically we’ve been instructed to close our office there," said Melissa Fleming, a spokeswoman for the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
"We have not been given any reason by Libyan authorities for why we should leave the country," she told journalists.
The North African state is a hub for refugees from sub-Saharan Africa seeking to reach Europe by crossing the Mediterranean Sea.
