The cover article of our March print issue is about the work to secure ex-pats during the recent political upheaval in Egypt; here’s more recent news still about work in Libya to secure UK people.
International SOS, the healthcare, medical and security assistance, and concierge services company, has activated local security, medical and logistics resources in Libya.
Like the Foreign Office the firm – which in this field works with London-based consultancy Control Risks – advises against all travel to Libya until the situation has stabilised. describing the security situation in Libya is volatile, access to Libyan airspace restricted, and communications infrastructure such as telephone and internet networks disrupted.
The company reported that it’s working with its clients with personnel in the country to arrange evacuation by commercial and charter flight. In support of the operation in Libya, International SOS activated a crisis management team in London supported by its alarm centers in Philadelphia, Paris, and Dubai.
Earlier, separately, the firm was providing advice and emergency assistance to clients based in Bahrain, or who have employees, students or other individuals traveling there.
In the immediate wake of the anti-government protests in Bahrain, International SOS activated a crisis management team in Dubai supported by its alarm centres in London, Philadelphia and other locations.
The International SOS team on the ground in Manama, Bahrain was monitoring conditions, aligning support resources and providing assistance to members. The team included medical, aviation and logistical experts as well as security specialists, who are part of a joint venture between International SOS and Control Risks.
And after the Christchurch earthquake, dozens of clients were affected. With disruptions to power, water, telecommunication and flights, International SOS reports that it was helping members with immediate advice, ground transport and accommodation, emergency cash and supplies, and arranging access to flights to other locations within New Zealand and Australia.
Immediately upon being advised of the earthquake, the firm convened a Crisis Management Team with medical, security and logistics specialists from its Alarm Centres in Sydney and Singapore and personnel based in Auckland and Christchurch.
On the evening of the earthquake, the firm activated an Incident Management Team comprising a doctor and two logistical personnel. These staff have been deployed to Christchurch to provide on-the-ground support for clients. This team has delivered in-person medical support on the evening of the earthquake and ongoing help in finding, advising and relocating personnel.
Michael Gardner, Regional Managing Director of International SOS, said: "This is a devastating event, and its impact will be felt for years to come. The response by New Zealand’s emergency services has been admirable in the face of such a tragedy. We are proud to be able to help clients get through this difficult time and make their way back home safely and quickly."
Meanwhile risk and business intelligence consultancy Inkerman pointed on its website www.inkerman.com to unconfirmed reports also suggest that supporters of the Gaddafi regime are distributing guns to anyone who claims to still support the Libyan leader. Pro-Gaddafi forces still appear to control the streets of the city, with reports of small groups of anti-government protesters heading towards the central Green Square in the face of deadly gunfire. Meanwhile, video footage has shown dozens of men wearing yellow hard hats attacking civilians in the eastern city of Benghazi. The men, who have been described as mercenaries by local people, appear to be in the midst of a ruthless crackdown in the city. Elsewhere in the country, unconfirmed reports suggest that troops loyal to Gaddafi are attacking Egyptian aid convoys in the east, with reports of deaths among Egyptian activists. The Inkerman Operations Centre continues to monitor the situation in Libya and provide regular updates to clients.
On February 23 Foreign Secretary William Hague said that the UK is "taking every action to get the remaining British nationals in Libya out of harm’s way".
In a statement the Foreign Secretary said that the safety of British nationals in Libya remains "our top priority". The statement ran –
"The safety of British nationals in Libya remains our top priority. As we announced earlier, a charter flight is this afternoon leaving Gatwick airport for Tripoli to bring British nationals home from Libya. Another such flight is planned to depart later this evening. A third flight will leave early tomorrow morning if it is needed. We will send as many planes as are necessary to bring home British nationals. In addition, HMS Cumberland will arrive off Libyan waters tonight.
“Over the past week hundreds of British nationals have been able to leave Libya on scheduled flights, many of them assisted by the Foreign Office. However, there are we think at least 300 remaining in the Tripoli area, and some expected scheduled flights have not materialised. So we decided to send these charter flights as rapidly as possible.
We are one of very few countries to have sent rapid deployment teams, three in total to Libya, so that we have a robust specialist presence on the ground which will be strengthened further tonight. We also have deployed staff to Libya’s border with Tunisia to assist those who have made their way to the border. We have a team of at least 50 dedicated staff at the Foreign Office working night and day taking calls from British citizens and implementing our emergency plans.
“Our preference clearly is for people to be able to leave either on commercial flights as they have been doing, or on our specially arranged charter flights as they will now be able to do, rather than to send in military flights without permission which is obviously riskier to the safety of all those involved. Although we don’t by any means rule out doing that.
“No one can fail to be deeply concerned about the plight of as many as 170 British nationals in the desert, the vast majority of who work for oil companies in desert camps alongside the nationals of many other countries. These camps are remote and isolated they are scattered over a large distance, and are dependent for food and water on supplies from Libyan cities that have been severely disrupted by the violence and unrest. Some we know have been subjected to attacks and looting.
“They are in a perilous and frightening situation. We are working intensively on a range of options to secure their safe passage from Libya, working with other countries whose nationals are in the same position. We have made every effort to contact them and their employers to provide what advice and assistance we can. Such efforts have been hampered by extensive disruption to Libyan telecommunications systems since over the last few days.
“This is an important message for the those individuals : if you have not yet made contact with us you must try to do so. You should contact us on the Foreign Office hotline. That number is 020 7008 0000. Any companies employing British nationals in Libya who have not yet made contact with us should do so, on the same number.
“Every country we have spoken to with nationals in these desert camps is in a similar situation. All of us are exploring every avenue to assist our nationals. All of us are conscious that the situation in Libya is very different from that we faced in Tunisia or Egypt over the last few weeks. In those countries there were large protests chiefly in urban areas. In Libya what is happening is civil strife: a country split geographically in two, split between Government and people, and with widespread breakdown of law and order. So we are taking every action to get the remaining British nationals in Libya out of harm’s way. We are greatly concerned about the loss of life in Libya and their government’s failure to protect its own people. Indeed their behaviour of government launching attacks on own people.
“We succeeded yesterday in securing a statement of the UN Security Council, and in achieving a special meeting of the UN Human Rights Council this Friday. We believe that those who commit or sanction crimes or human rights abuses in Libya should be held to account. That is our clear message and warning to them in the future. To those in Libya who may be guilty of such acts, that Britain and our partners around the world will be doing everything to hold them to account in future. This will be a major focus of Britain’s diplomacy in the coming days."
