(RTTNews) -  The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, has wound up its operations in Libya following a directive from the Muammar Gadaffi government to leave the country, an UNHCR spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

Melissa Fleming said Tripoli had informed the UNHCR last week that it must go without setting a deadline or specifying the reasons which prompted the decision.

"They made it very clear they want us to leave so we're complying," she said.

However, Fleming expressed concern over the development saying that it would have wider ramifications since refugees headed for Europe from North Africa and the Middle East are forced out by Italian authorities into Libyan waters.

"This will leave a huge vacuum for the thousands of refugees and asylum seekers who are there already and of course those who continue to arrive steadily on boats every week," Fleming told reporters in Geneva.

As Libya is not a signatory to the UN's 1951 Convention on Refugees, it lacks a coherent policy on domestic asylum and therefore it is often left to the UNHCR to help Libyan authorities differentiate between refugees and asylum seekers.

Until now the UNHCR has registered around 9,000 refugees in Libya out of which 3,700 are asylum seekers with Palestinians comprising the largest group followed by those from Iraq, Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, Liberia and Ethiopia while Eritreans top the list of asylum seekers.

Fleming said with the UNHCR moving out of the African nation European governments would henceforth be required to revisit their policy regarding displaced people.

"All European governments considering using Libya as a place where people fleeing from war and persecution could be received would have to review this very carefully if UNHCR is no longer present there," she added.

Currently the UNHCR's operations in Libya are being manned by a 26-member staff mostly comprising locals and the organization has been working in the country since 1991.

Although the Gadaffi government has lately being warming up to the West, the sudden and abrupt decision to expel the UNHCR is a pointer to its temperamental and totally unpredictable nature, say Libyan observers. (RTT Staff Writer)