Uploaded by BritishForcesNews on Feb 24, 2011
*Find out the most up to date news about the crisis in Libya on www.bfbs.com/news*
The Foreign Office is sending a charter plane to Libya in the next 48 hours to bring Britons home as HMS Cumberland takes up position in international waters. It is the latest move by Foreign Secretary William Hague who last night pledged to step up efforts to help British citizens leave the country. The Type 22 frigate is on standby and further military help for UK citizens has not been ruled out. Meanwhile a military plane has brought out 32 Dutch nationals from Libya. The KDC-10 returned safely to Eindhoven Airport in the Netherlands. The pilot told reporters that the evacuation went without a hitch and that Air Traffic Control at Tripoli airport had been functioning normally. Fifty people from Belgium, Britain and the United States were also on the plane, the Dutch airforce's biggest carrier aircraft. Some British Embassy staff and families who are not needed to deal with the current situation in Libya are leaving while Foreign Office personnel trained in crisis response are being sent out. More than 200 people have been killed in the past two nights of clashes on the streets of Libya. In a defiant and rambling address on state television, Colonel Gaddafi promised to die a martyr rather than leave the country he has ruled for 41 years. He said: "I am a fighter, a revolutionary from tents ... I will die as a martyr at the end," he said, vowing to fight "to my last drop of blood". The UN Security Council has demanded an "immediate end" to the violence in Libya and condemned the bloody crackdown on anti-government protesters.
The Foreign Office is sending a charter plane to Libya in the next 48 hours to bring Britons home as HMS Cumberland takes up position in international waters. It is the latest move by Foreign Secretary William Hague who last night pledged to step up efforts to help British citizens leave the country. The Type 22 frigate is on standby and further military help for UK citizens has not been ruled out. Meanwhile a military plane has brought out 32 Dutch nationals from Libya. The KDC-10 returned safely to Eindhoven Airport in the Netherlands. The pilot told reporters that the evacuation went without a hitch and that Air Traffic Control at Tripoli airport had been functioning normally. Fifty people from Belgium, Britain and the United States were also on the plane, the Dutch airforce's biggest carrier aircraft. Some British Embassy staff and families who are not needed to deal with the current situation in Libya are leaving while Foreign Office personnel trained in crisis response are being sent out. More than 200 people have been killed in the past two nights of clashes on the streets of Libya. In a defiant and rambling address on state television, Colonel Gaddafi promised to die a martyr rather than leave the country he has ruled for 41 years. He said: "I am a fighter, a revolutionary from tents ... I will die as a martyr at the end," he said, vowing to fight "to my last drop of blood". The UN Security Council has demanded an "immediate end" to the violence in Libya and condemned the bloody crackdown on anti-government protesters.
Page last updated at 06:03 GMT, Thursday, 24 February 2011 BBC.co.uk
Today: Thursday 24th February
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