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| Libya Protesters |
Countries:
Britain: British military aircraft flew some 150 oil workers out of camps in the Libyan Desert on Saturday, rescuing citizens stranded by the revolt against Muammar Gaddafi. Britain announced the closure of its embassy in Tripoli just after the last charter aircraft evacuating Britons took off from the Libyan capital, carrying about 100 people, 53 of them British. Defense Secretary Liam Fox said a naval frigate, HMS Cumberland, was on its way back to Benghazi to evacuate any remaining Britons. A Navy destroyer, HMS York, had arrived in Malta and would be available to help with the evacuation effort, as would "a number of other military assets," Fox said.
China: China had evacuated almost 16,000 of its citizens by Saturday, Xinhua news agency quoted the Foreign Ministry as saying. China's Ministry of Commerce has said 75 Chinese companies have operations in Libya, including the state-owned energy giant CNPC, parent company of PetroChina Co Ltd. China's Eastern Airlines will send eight chartered flights in the coming days to evacuate the Chinese from Malta, according to the Chinese embassy.
Croatia: Croatia said 28 Croatian workers have left Benghazi on an Italian military ship bound for Malta. A plane from Zagreb landed in Tripoli and Croatian officials were trying to reach the remaining workers at three different sites. There are around 125 Croat workers still in Libya.
Germany: Germany evacuated 132 foreigners including dozens of German and EU citizens from the Libyan desert on Saturday via two military transport aircraft. A government official said the planes took off from Crete and returned there, adding that a British aircraft had also evacuated Germans and EU citizens.
Greece: The Greek passenger ship Nisos Rodos with 390 evacuees on board, mainly Brazilians and Filipinos but also Thai, Portugese, Dutch and Britons, docked at the port of Piraeus on Sunday. Two more ships, the Hellenic Spirit and the Olympic Champion, transferred more than 4,000 Chinese and other nationals to the Greek port of Heraklion on the island of Crete. Three Greek passenger ships have already evacuated about 7,500 people, mainly Chinese, from Libya. Greeks, Russians, Romanians, Ukrainians and Italians were also among them. About 15,000 Chinese in total will be evacuated from Libya on Greek ships, the government has said. They will return home from Greece on chartered flights, officials said.
India: More than 530 Indian nationals arrived from Tripoli at New Delhi International airport on two Air India flights on Sunday, the Foreign Ministry said. A further 88 Indian nationals travelled by land across the Tunisian border late on Saturday and a further 170 are expected to cross on Sunday, the ministry said. India also chartered two passenger ships with a total capacity of 2,800 and is sending two navy ships from Mumbai to assist with the evacuation. There were 18,000 Indians in Libya, mostly in the oil, construction and health sectors.
Ireland: All Irish nationals wishing to leave Benghazi, have left by sea, according to a statement on Friday by Ireland's Foreign Ministry. A small number of citizens remain in desert areas who are mostly employees of foreign companies. The Ministry is working with the companies and EU partners to ensure that Irish nationals are included in evacuation arrangements. Arrangements were put in place on Saturday for the Air Corps to fly back to Dublin with a those who were evacuated by sea from Libya to Malta the day before.
Italy: Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said on Sunday that all 1,400 Italians had been repatriated from Libya.
Lebannon: Eighteen Lebanese arrived in Beirut on Sunday from Libya via a Royal Jordanian flight from Amman. A number of other Lebanese in Tripoli airport are waiting to board a flight for Paris and are expected to arrive in Beirut in the next 48 hours.
Netherlands: The Dutch foreign affairs ministry said on Sunday that seven Dutch citizens took off from Jakhira in Libya aboard a British C130 military aircraft that also carried other nationals and landed in Malta on Saturday night. At least one more Dutch national was transferred to Crete on a German flight, it added. According to government figures, about ten more Dutch citizens who wish to leave Libya were still in the country.
Nigeria: Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said it planned to evacuate 2,000 of its stranded nationals, the first 499 of whom arrived back in the capital Abuja aboard a chartered Boeing 747 on Sunday. The government has set up a special camp in Abuja to accomodate the returnees, who will be screened for valid documentation before being discharged. NEMA said elderly, women and children were among the passengers as well as a few convicts who were handed over to the Nigerian embassy in Tripoli. NEMA Director-General Muhammad Sani-Sidi told Reuters it was a voluntary evacuation and that the 2,000 were Nigerians who had registered a desire to leave with their embassy. He estimated the overall Nigerian population in Libya at 10,000.
Philipines: President Benigno Aquino said on Thursday his government was making preparations to repatriate about half of the 26,000 Filipino workers in Libya, most of them working in the medical and oil and gas sectors. The government has also set aside 100 million pesos ($2.3 million) to lease planes to ferry Filipinos from Libya.
Romania: Romania's Foreign Ministry said on Saturday 270 citizens had been evacuated from Libya. Another 50 are being evacuated by air and 44 more by sea.
South Africa: South Africa said on Thursday it was arranging for a flight to evacuate some embassy staff and 30-40 nationals from Libya.
South Korea: A chartered plane carrying about 200 nationals took off from Tripoli on Friday for Cairo and another is scheduled, the Foreign Ministry said. A total of 1,300 South Koreans were in Libya working for construction companies.
Spain: A Spanish armed forces plane carrying 124 people evacuated from Tripoli, landed in Madrid on Friday, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said. The evacuees included 40 Spaniards as well as Mexican, British, Canadian and Portuguese nationals. Spain is planning the evacuation of a small number of Spaniards from outside Tripoli, the spokesman said.
Syria: Syria has sent vessels to pick up Syrian nationals from different areas in Libya, in addition to continuing its flights to Tripoli. Minister of Transport Yarub Badr said two ships have been sent so far.
Tunisia: Tunisia had at least 30,000 nationals in Libya. At least 7,000 have been able to leave. Tunisia sent five flights to Libya on Wednesday and two before that. Tunisia has scheduled a ferry to travel to Benghazi.
Turkey: Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Saturday that Turkey had evacuated 14,776 people, including 579 foreigners.
Vietnam: Vietnam has evacuated about 1,300 of its citizens from Libya out of 10,482 .
Credit: Reuters
