New Delhi
23 February 2011
RAMESH RAMACHANDRAN and SRIDHAR KUMARASWAMI
India scrambled Wednesday to coordinate the logistics of evacuating its
nationals from strife-torn Libya, where anti-government protests are reported to have
claimed about 300 lives.
There are about 18,000 Indian nationals in Libya and the government proposes to
evacuate them by air, sea and land, first to neighouring Egypt, and then onward back
home.
Unlike in the case of Egypt, from where Indian evacuees had to pay for their tickets
home, external affairs minister SM Krishna said the government was "not charging" for
evacuating the Indians from Libya.
India is understood to have expressed its willingness to help its South Asian neighbours
in evacuating their nationals at short notice. In 2006, India had evacuated Sri Lankan and
Nepalese nationals from Lebanon after the Israel - Hezbollah war broke out.
Sri Lanka did not have aircraft to bring its nationals back. It is understood to have
sounded out "friendly countries" for assistance even as it explored the possibility of
coordinating its activities with the International Organisation on Migration.
Nepal is particularly worried because not only does it not have a full-fledged mission in
Libya (Its embassy in Egypt is concurrently accredited to Libya) but it is understood to
be facing a resource crunch, too.
Bangladesh, another country in India's neighbourhood, intends to move its nationals to
safer places in Libya before taking a call on evacuating them. Like Colombo, Dhaka was
toying with the idea of approaching international organisations.
India, which has drawn upon its experience of evacuation from Kuwait in 1991 and
Lebanon in 2006, plans to evacuate its nationals by air and sea from Tripoli and
Benghazi in Libya to Alexandria in Egypt.
New Delhi was awaiting necessary clearances for its aircraft and ships, with one private
vessel expected to reach Egypt without delay. It was dispatching additional personnel to
reinforce its diplomatic missions in Libya and Egypt.
Access to the eastern coast of Libya was relatively quick and less difficult from Egypt.
The choice of Alexandria was also dictated by the facts that it was not only a port city but
big aircraft could land and take off from the airport there.
Evacuation by road was being considered, too, from Tobruk in Libya to Salloum in Egypt
(about 600 kilometres) and onward, again by road, to Alexandria, located at a distance of
500 km.
Two Indian nationals were reported to have safely crossed the Libyan border into
Salloum.
External affairs minister SM Krishna said in the Rajya Sabha that the government was
doing its utmost to ensure a safe evacuation. He noted that the Indian nurses, numbering
about 200, were working in Benghazi and they were reported to be safe.
In the messages posted on her Twitter account, Ms Rao elaborated that the Indian
ambassador in Tripoli, Ms Manimekalai, was in touch with the Indian nurses in Benghazi
and the Indian community in other locations.
A majority of the Indian nationals, numbering about 8,000, lived in Tripoli; the rest were
scattered across several smaller cities and towns. There were an estimated 2,000
Indians in Sebha, 1,500 in Sirte, 1,200 each in Zliten and Benghazi, and 700 in Kufra.
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