Expelled Egyptians Arrive Home

The first of about 100,000 Egyptian workers expelled from Libya began arriving home Saturday, further straining already sour relations between the Arab neighbors.

About 830 Egyptians arrived in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria to an official and popular welcome. Another 500 traveled by truck across the border to Salloum, west of the coastal city of Matruh. Free transportation was provided to take them to their homes throughout Egypt.

Egypt and Libya, at odds politically since the Arab-Israeli war of 1973, fought a border war in 1977, and Egypt has accused Libya of frequent subversion plots since then.

Cairo’s government-controlled press has bitterly attacked Libya for its decision to expel expatriate workers and said the move should not pass without retaliation.

Tripoli has also expelled about 10,000 Tunisian workers and 1,000 Malians in recent months.

Libya’s official news agency said recently that the country had decided to reduce its dependence on foreign labor because of adverse economic conditions and to boost its self-sufficiency. However, the government said it would allow Arab workers to take Libyan nationality.

Libya’s ambitious development program has been hit by a slump in oil prices and production, now running at barely half the late 1970s peak of 2 million barrels a day.

Helmi Bassiouni, director of Matruh’s customs department, was quoted in Cairo newspapers as saying that Libyan authorities had refused to allow expelled workers to take home their savings, belongings or passports.

Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi was quoted in a recent interview with the leftist Cairo newspaper Al Ahali as saying that the Libyan decision was in retaliation for similar treatment of Libyans by Egypt.

To allow the workers to transfer their money back to Egypt, he added, would be tantamount to normalizing relations with “the Israeli enemy.”