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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Serbian citizens start boarding aircraft in Tripoli

Belgrade, 23 February 2011

First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior and coordinator of the team for the evacuation of Serbian citizens from Libya Ivica Dacic stated today that the first aircraft in Tripoli is being boarded, adding that around 80 passengers, mostly women and children, have so far boarded.

Dacic explained that the process is somewhat slow due to large crowding at the airport, adding that Russians have also begun evacuating from Tripoli, but not from other towns.

He said he expects them to evacuate Serbian nationals working for Russian firms in Libya, as has already been agreed.

Agreement has been reached with Turkey to evacuate Serbian citizens from Benghazi, where evacuation is possible only by ship, he added.

Dacic voiced his hope that the evacuation from this region will be completed today or tomorrow, adding that there are over 1,000 Serbian nationals in Libya.

Private airline companies also offered assistance with the evacuation, he added.

Early this morning two aircraft took off form Nikola Tesla airport in order to evacuate Serbian nationals from Libya. They will manage to transport around 500 passengers today.

According to data of the Serbian embassy in Libya, there are more than 1,000 Serbian nationals in this country. Three-thirds are in Tripoli, he said and explained that evacuation by airplane will not be possible in other towns, but by boats from other countries.

The First Deputy Prime Minister said that he was given a promise from Russia that they will evacuate by their boats more than 200 Serbian nationals who live in Ras Lanuf and work for Russian companies.

Serbian citizens living in Benghazi should be evacuated by Turkish boats because the local airport is completely destroyed.

According to data of the Serbian embassy in Tripoli, the situation in this city was relatively calmer than the previous days and for now there are no security threats for evacuation by airplane.

Dacic called on Serbian nationals living and working outside Tripoli to either gather in some towns or to come all together to Tripoli so that they could be evacuated more easily.

The first aircraft landed at Tripoli airport at 8.40, and the second ten minutes later, while the third aircraft for Tripoli departed from Belgrade around 12.20.