Two Serbian embassy staffers abducted in Libya last month are alive but Belgrade has not received any demands for their release, an official said Friday.
The pair were kidnapped on November 8 in the coastal city of Sabratha, 70 kilometres (42 miles) west of Tripoli, from a convoy of cars heading to the Tunisian border.
“So far our authorities have not received any demand from the kidnappers,” said foreign ministry official Veljko Odalovic, according to the Beta news agency.
He said that Belgrade was however in constant contact with the authorities in Tripoli who assured them that the two Serbian nationals, Sladjana Stankovic and Jovica Stepic, were alive.
Stankovic was in charge of communications at the embassy and Stepic was her driver.
There were no indications to conclude they were being held by the Islamic State group, Odalovic added, but due to a lack of information he could not elaborate on when they would be released.
Libya descended into chaos after the October 2011 ouster and killing of longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi, with two governments vying for power and armed groups battling to control its vast energy resources.
Sabratha is considered a bastion for extremists in the lawless country, which has become a magnet for radical militants who receive weapons training in jihadist camps before launching deadly attacks in other countries.
Belgrade maintains an embassy in Tripoli.
Serbian citizens, mostly doctors and other medical staff as well as construction workers, have been working in Libya for decades due to close bilateral relations during Gaddafi’s regime.
