Guardian: Nigeria evacuates 520 citizens from Egypt

[NewsCaster]

NO FEWER THAN 520 Nigerians stranded in Egypt following the political crisis in that country have returned home yesterday amidst jubilation as they were reunited with their family members.

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs jointly carried out the exercise.

At about 3.45 a.m. yesterday, a chartered aircraft carrying the first batch of the returnees touched down at the international wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja where officials from Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Federal Capital Territory and NEMA were on the ground to receive them.

According to a statement by Head, Press and Public Relations, NEMA, Yushau Shuaib, the agency's Director-General, Sani Sidi, said the initial number of the stranded Nigerians who registered in Cairo for the repatriation had since increased following growing tension in that country and the assurance given by President Goodluck Jonathan for adequate arrangement to move them to safety back home.

The NEMA chief disclosed that majority of the returnees were old, weak citizens and students studying in Egypt.

He assured that the chartered plane services would continue to run until all Nigerians willing to come home were safely evacuated.

One of the returnees and a former Military Governor of Borno State, Col. Abdulmumini Aminu, commended President Jonathan for his foresight and concern for the wellbeing of Nigerians as demonstrated by the timely and efficient way the evacuation was carried.    

Another returnee, a student, Ibrahim Muhammad, thanked President Jonathan for ordering the evacuation.

Meanwhile, gunmen yesterday fired on anti-government protesters in Cairo, where fighting killed six and wounded over 800, prompting new calls from Western powers for President Hosni Mubarak to hand over power immediately.

The leaders of France, Germany, Britain, Italy and Spain put more pressure on Mubarak, 82, for a political transition that "must start now."

A joint statement from the five European leaders said they were watching the unrest in Egypt with deep concern and condemned "all those who use or encourage violence, which will only aggravate the political crisis in Egypt."

The statement from French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero urged a "quick and orderly transition to a broad-based government."

"That transition process must start now," it said.

Also, the United States (U.S.) sharpened its criticism of Mubarak's teetering regime and expressed outrage over violence against protesters, declaring that its once-close partner should set a brisk course for new elections.

"Now means now," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said of Egypt's transition, repeating that continued aid to Egypt would be influenced by the government's response to the crisis.

The call for an immediate end to three decades of authoritarian rule in Egypt coincided with American hopes that reforms in Jordan and Yemen could stave off similar revolt. It represented something of a dual approach for the Barack Obama administration, which has gradually shed its support for the 82-year-old Mubarak while looking to shore up its other Arab friends facing much of the same resentment if not yet imminent revolution.

And, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) have called on the embattled Mubarak to step down from the presidency and stop bloodsheds that have witnessed public outcries against his 30-year rule.

Both organisations, in a statement obtained by The Guardian in Abuja yesterday, said they identified with the position earlier canvassed by the Secretary General of the United Nations (UN), Ban Ki-Moon calling on Mubarak to quit the presidency.

The ILO statement was signed by its Director-General, Juan Somavia, while that of the ITUC was endorsed by its General Secretary, Sharan Burrow




Source: Nigeria evacuates 520 citizens from Egypt