Government affirms support for evacuation of Ghanaians from Libya

Accra, March 5, GNA - Alhaji Muhammad Mumuni, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration on Friday expressed government's commitm= ent to ensure the safe return of all Ghanaian Nationals from Libya. Alhaji Mumuni said a six-member team including medical personnel from the 37th Military Hospital has been dispatched since March 1, to Egypt to augment the Evacuation Liaison Post established by the Ghana Mission in Cairo.

The Minister made this known at a media briefing in Accra on the evacuation exercise. Alhaji Mumuni said the political violence in Libya was unabated while the deteriorating security situation continued to threaten the safety of th= e large community of foreign nationals residing in that country. He said this had cause large number of people to flee to neighbouring countries and prompting various governments to arrange the evacuation of their citizens. The Minister said in view of the upheavals, governments in consultatio= n with the Ghana Embassy in Libya and a Task Force comprising the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the security agencies were planning and co-ordinating the evacuation exercise.

Alhaji Mumuni said the taskforce in consultation with the Ghana Missions in Tripoli and Egypt had developed an evacuation plan, which include the nomination of a liaison officer to compile the list of the nationals and their addresses.

The Minister said the Evacuation Task Force was operating from Accra International Conference Centre and had designated a number of telephone lines to receive calls from concerned relatives for relay to Libya. The numbers are 0302-787373, 0302-684887, 0302-227201, 0279-430330, 0299005097 and 0299005101. The Minister said the first batch of 55 Ghanaians who managed to reach Libya-Egypt border were processed by the Ghana Embassy in Egypt and transported to Cairo where arrangements were made for them to travel to Accra. He said another batch of 95 Ghanaians was received at the Kotoka International Airport while an additional 102 arrived in Accra on March 3. Alhaji Mumuni said two chartered flights operated by Egypt Air arrived on Friday with a total of 280 Ghanaians. He said information from the Mission in Tripoli indicated that two Ghanaians by name Solomon Essien and Patrick Cudjoe were brought to the embassy on February 28 with gun and rubber bullet wounds and are receiving treatment.