DJERBA, Mar 04, 2011 (AFP) - Libya's public telecoms company has sent SMS messages calling on subscribers to attack foreigners and accusing them of wanting to "sow trouble" and "destroy" the country, witnesses said on Friday.
The messages were sent by the national company Libyana. Egyptian refugees at Djerba airport in southern Tunisia, who had fled Libya, showed AFP one of the messages stored in their mobile phones.
Sent on February 19, the message in Arabic said that foreigners were plotting against Libya.
"These enemies want to sow trouble and destroy our country, Libya, and block our reform and development processes," it said.
Many Egyptians also spoke of hostile declarations against them by the Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi and Libyan officials.
AFP also heard multiple testimonies of violence against foreigners.
"There is harassment of Egyptians by Libyan soldiers," said Said Kamal, who said he was beaten and robbed of everything he had by soldiers and Kadhafi mercenaries.
"There have been deaths," he added. "Egyptians, Tunisians, including women and children," he added.
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Copyright AFP 2011.
