Britain to set up evacuation team

www.gulf-daily-news.com Vol XXV   NO. 315      Wednesday      29 January 2003 By ROBERT SMITH MANAMA

A TEAM of UK government volunteers will be set up to handle the evacuation of Britons from the Gulf in the event of a war with Iraq.

The special crisis unit will co-ordinate with airlines to ferry British citizens who want to return to their home country.

A British Foreign Office spokesman yesterday told the GDN it was a routine step to take in the event of an emergency.

Only last week British citizens were evacuated from Venezuela, which is on the brink of civil war as it attempts to quell a growing nationwide strike movement in support of socialist President Hugo Chavez.

"No decision has been taken to launch military action in Iraq," said the Foreign Office spokes-man.

"But it would be irresponsible not to plan for such eventualities.

"In any consular situation, we would make use of a pool of Foreign Office volunteers and people from other government departments to handle the situation.

"It does the kind of work you would expect in an emergency. If there is military action we would set up such a unit.

"This is something we set up in any crisis, but we have to think about the implications from what might happen in Iraq.

"We will also take into account the terrorist threat."

There are currently just under 7,000 Britons registered in Bahrain and approximately 100,000 throughout the Gulf.

A British newspaper reported this week that a 60-strong squad of civil servants had already been picked out to staff a consular crisis centre.

It said the team was expected to be operational for just three weeks and would liaise with embassies and airlines to organise the evacuation of British nationals living in the region.

However, the Foreign Office spokesman denied the unit had already been established and refused to speculate on how long it would be operational for.

On Monday, the British Embassy reminded Britons to register at its offices in Manama so they can be contacted quickly in an emergency.

Advice

The Foreign Office spokesman also suggested they pay close attention to travel advice issued by the British government.

"People should keep a close eye on any travel advice issued for the region," he said.

"But we are not planning any evacuation at this stage."

Meanwhile, the US State Department has already advised Americans around the world to be prepared for emergency evacuations in the event of unforeseen circumstances, including war.

All US embassies and consulates worldwide are sending warden messages to American expatriates with advice on preparing themselves for an emergency.

A US embassy spokeswoman in Bahrain also advised American residents here to register with the embassy.

"We always tell US citizens to register," she said. "Anybody who registers is assigned to a warden and are much easier to contact."

A German Embassy spokesman said there are no current plans to evacuate German citizens in the event of a war.

But he added that circumstances would dictate any such decision.

"It is very hard to say at present," said the spokesman. "So far there is no war. If there is we will have to decide according to the situation.

"It is impossible to say now."