Krishna speaks to Libyan counterpart, 20% Indians out of Libya

New Delhi, Mar 1 (PTI) Indian External Affairs Minister
S M Krishna on Tuesday spoke to his Libyan counterpart Musssa
Kussa for his country's help in evacuating the trapped Indians
after nearly 20 per cent of an estimated 18,000 Indians were
pulled out of the strife-torn north African nation.
The high level contact was made even as government
received landing clearance for three special flights daily
from India to Libyan Capital Tripoli up to March 12, after the
facility was extended beyond March 7.
"Arrangements have since been finalised with Libya to
receive three special flights daily from India to Tripoli over
the next ten days. In addition, we are exploring possibilities
of establishing air bridges with Sirte and Sebha in Libya.
This should appreciably speed up the process of evacuating our
nationals from Libya," the Indian Ministry of External Affairs
said here on Tuesday.
It said the ship Scotia Prince, which had docked at
Benghazi on Monday, is setting sail for Alexandria, Egypt,
around noon (local time), with an estimated 1,188 Indian
nationals on board.
21 more Indian nationals crossed over to Salloum (Egypt)
on Monday by road and have been moved to Cairo and they will
leave for Mumbai by Gulf Air, along with 85 other Indian
nationals who had in the same way reached Cairo, it said.
"Almost twenty per cent of our 18,000 people have been
evacuated out of Libya," Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao
tweeted.
"Have recd (recieved) clearance for 3 - three- of our
flights per day to Tripoli frm tomorrow till 12th March," she
said on Twitter on Monday.
A total of 557 Indians returned here in two batches by
air from strife-torn Libya in the wee hours on Tuesday taking
to 1,083 the total number of people evacuated so far by the
four Air India special flights.
Reacting to the criticism that India was not as swift as
China in evacuating its citizens, Rao said "we are not in
competition with China here. We're focused on the task of
bringing back our people safe and sound. Pl (please) let's not
devalue this."
She also said "we have evacuated over 3,000 out of
Libya by now. Some have returned home, others on their way."
The fourth Air India flight( AI-170) landed at
Terminal 2 of Indira Gandhi International Airport(IGIA) here
at around 4:30 am, bringing 331 passengers, an airport
official said. The plane took off from Tripoli airport at
around 8:30 pm IST.
The third special flight with 226 Indians on board
arrived in the Capital a little earlier at around 1:30 am from
the north African nation, Minister for Civil Aviation Vayalar
Ravi said.
Ravi, also the Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs,
received the passengers of the third special flight, an Airbus
330, at Terminal 2 of the IGI Airport.
The AI-800 was originally a Jeddah-Mumbai flight, but
it was converted into a special ferry aircraft and diverted to
Tripoli to evacuate Indians who are stranded in Libya, which
is rocked by massive anti-government protests that has left
around 1,000 persons dead.
The British media said the warning came amid growing
concerns that the crumbling regime could use chemical weapons
against its own people.
ABC News said that the amphibious USS Kearsarge armed
with helicopter gunships, Harrier sea fighters and marines had
set sail for the Mediterranean, in a move described by
Pentagon as "tools to provide full range of options" to US
leaders.
The channel also said that giant carrier USS
Enterprise had also been kept on high standby alert in the Red
Sea. These lethal warships could be used to enforce a 'no-fly
zone' over Libya.
US officials were tight lipped about the buildup of
forces in the region, merely saying it was "repositioning of
forces" to provide options to President Barack Obama.
But the Libyan opposition forces denied that they had
called for international intervention.
Defected interior minister told al Jazeera that
welcoming foreign troops was out of question.
Stepping up pressure on the Libyan rulers, the US
on Tuesday announced to freeze assets of the Gaddafi regime.
"As of today, at least USD 30 billion in government of
Libya assets under US jurisdiction have been blocked. This is
the largest blocking under any sanctions program ever," David
Cohen, the Acting Undersecretary of Treasury for Terrorism and
Financial Intelligence, told reporters after announcing the
freeze of assets.
The Treasury moves comes days after President Obama
slapped sanctions on the Gaddafi regime, which has been
allegedly using lethal force against its own people.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in an interview to
National Public Radio, underlined the determination of the
White House to send a clear message that the cost in Libya "is
getting intolerable".
"What we're trying to do is to send a message to those
around him that the cost is getting intolerable, that if you
want to get out and end the bloodshed, you need to move now.
And I think that would be a powerfully delivered message by
the Europeans. And also, we are looking at all other options,"
Clinton said.
"The decision made by NATO at the North Atlantic
Council a few days ago was to direct the military command, the
supreme commander in Europe, to begin prudent planning. And
that runs across a full range of potential options. So there's
a lot going on," she said.
The Secretary of State said Gaddafi is increasingly
losing control over his country and now he appears to be in
control of a small part of the capital Tripoli.
"The situation for Gaddafi is worsening... he is in
control of a smaller part of the country, really now probably
only a part of Tripoli. But he still has allies who are not
yet turning against him, and we are trying to send very clear
messages that that needs to happen," Clinton told the BBC News
in an interview.
Clinton said the US and its international partners are
looking at all forms of action and nothing is off the table.
"We want to be prepared in the event that some other
steps is necessary," the top US diplomat said.