Sudan asks UK to help evacuate its citizens in Libya

March 1, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan has asked the United Kingdom (UK) to help evacuate its citizens who are stranded in Libya as anti-government unrest across the country continues to force a mass exodus by foreigners.

UK-chartered flights and boats have already evacuated hundreds of Britons from the capital Tripoli and elsewhere in the unrest-whacked Libya, from which as many as 100,000 people have fled since anti-government protest erupted over the past week, according to UN estimates.

The undersecretary of the country Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Rahmtallah Mohamed Osman, on Tuesday asked the UK ambassador in Khartoum, Nicholas Kay, for his country’s help to evacuate Sudanese citizens from Libya.

The meeting between Kay and Osman took place at the latter’s office and discussed latest developments in Libya as well as ongoing efforts to evacuate foreigners from different Libyan towns.

The ministry’s undersecretary thanked the British diplomat for UK’s help in evacuating a Sudanese citizen to Malta on board of a British boat.

Sudan has so far evacuated some 1,000 Sudanese who were stranded at the Egyptian border area of Al-Salum. Around 400 of them have been transported to Egyptian cities near the border with Libya while 600 others are expected to arrive in Egypt on Sunday across Al-Salum.

Sudan on Sunday re-opened its borders with Libya to facilitate the return of Sudanese there. The borders remained closed for nearly eight months due to tension between the two neighbors over Libya’s hosting of Darfur rebel leader Khalil Ibrahim.

(ST)