Liberia detains 41 workers

The 41 Bangladeshi workers recently detained in Liberia for their irregular status are expected to be brought back home soon by UN peacekeeping mission flights.
A brigade commander of Bangladeshi peacekeepers in Liberia told Dhaka that he is hopeful to get the UN Headquarters' permission for transporting the workers in phases, said Saida Muna Tasneem, director general of the external publicity wing of the foreign ministry, yesterday.
In another development, Bangladesh's Chargé d'Affaires in Morocco Lutfar Rahman is going to Benin to help repatriation of the 31 Bangladeshi seamen stranded on eight ships offshore the West African country.
Lutfar Rahman, who was scheduled to start for Benin last night, will meet foreign ministry and port officials there. Benin earlier assured Bangladesh of hosting the stranded seamen until their repatriation and help get airfare for the crewmembers, said Saida Muna.
The date of repatriation of the workers detained in Liberia was, however, not confirmed yet, she said. It could not also be known when the jobseekers went to Liberia.
"Some recruiting agencies in Bangladesh had sent the workers to Liberia, but they did not have valid documents for work, and ultimately the Liberian police detained them," she said.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Embassy in Greece is trying to realise compensation to the 31 seamen from the Greek shipping company that recruited them, she said.
The seamen joined the ships late December last year, but they have since remained stranded a few miles off the Cotonou port as their employer Golden Shipping SA Company had troubles with Nigeria from where it transports oil to Europe, the victims said.
The company has neither paid them nor provide food, water and fuel regularly, said the crewmembers, some of whom have fallen ill under the circumstances.
Initially there was a communication gap, but now that the Bangladesh chargé d'affaires in Morocco is going to Benin, expectations of the seamen and their relatives have increased.
Ashraful Alam, chief officer of a ship, MT Paloma, told The Daily Star over phone that the Golden Shipping SA yesterday offered him and two others salaries and air tickets to return home.
But Ashraful was confused about what to do since Chargé d'Affaires Lutfar Rahman was to arrive there shortly. He expressed hope that all of them will return together.