UK sending warship to Libya to evacuate British expats

**RobWilliams** · 23-02-2011, 09:20 PM

Foreign Secretary, William Hague, announced plans for evacuating British Expatriates from Libya.

"The safety of British nationals in Libya is of paramount concern. In light of the fluid and dangerous situation we are urgently reinforcing our team on the ground with specialist personnel to provide additional help and assistance to British nationals.
Already this week British Nationals seeking to leave Libya have encountered significant difficulties. Many are currently in Tripoli airport without immediate flights out of the country, following flight cancellations, closures of airspace and difficulties securing permits from the appropriate authorities. We are working closely with airlines to assist as many British nationals as possible to depart Libya. In addition, I have decided to mobilise further resources in support of an assisted departure:

first, we continue to work intensely with airlines and other countries in order to as assist as many British Nationals to leave as possible;
second, we are making arrangements for a charter plane to travel to Libya in the next 48 hours; we are urgently seeking landing clearances and permissions from the Libyan government; in support of this we will send a Rapid Deployment Team of FCO officials to assist British Nationals;
third, the Royal Navy Frigate HMS Cumberland is being redeployed from the Eastern Mediterranean to international waters near Libya so that it is pre-positioned in case it is required to play a role in assisting British Nationals, if needed.

As part of this effort, and in line with our travel advice, we will also assist some of our Embassy staff and their families who are not needed to deal directly with the current situation to leave Libya while sending additional specialised Foreign Office personnel trained in crisis response."