Operation Safe Homecoming was an operation launched by India to evacuate its nationals, who were fleeing from the 2011 Libyan uprising.[1] It was combination of air and an air sea-bridge which is to performed by the Indian Navy and the air-bridge by Air India.[1] The last time the Indian government had launched such an evacuation was during the 2006 Lebanon War when the Indian Navy and Air India was used under Operation Sukoon. Prior to this Indian had evacuated close to 1,00,000 of its nationals after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990.[1]

Prelude

The 2011 Libyan uprising began as a series of protests and confrontations occurring in the North African state of Libya against the government and its leader Muammar Gaddafi. The social unrest began on 15 February 2011 and has since become a widespread uprising that continues to the present. Inspiration for the unrest is attributed to the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, connecting it with the wider 2010–11 Middle East and North Africa protests.[2] According to Richard Engel, NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent, who entered Libya and had reached the city of Tobruk on 22 February, "the protest movement is no longer a protest movement, it's a war. It's open revolt."[3] On 22 February, The Economist described the events as an "uprising that is trying to reclaim Libya from the world's longest-ruling autocrat."[4] Gaddafi blamed the uprising on al-Qaeda and "drugged kids".[5]

The Operation

There are 18,000 Indian nationals working in Libya who were trapped because of the unrest.[1] Evacuation appeared to be difficult due to "chaos" at the central airport in Tripoli[6] as well as a "destroyed" runway at Benina International Airport[7] and the temporary closure of all Libyan ports.[8] Consequently, many international flights, including those of British Airways, were cancelled, although others appear to operate. Further reports indicate that Libyan harbours in many cities were closed.[9]

India therefore ordered three Indian Navy ships, two destroyers the INS Mysore, INS Aditya[10] along with its largest amphibious vessel the INS Jalashwa to sail from Mumbai on 26 February 2011 to Libya.[11][12] It also chartered the 1,200-seater MV Scotia Prince[1] and the 1,600 seater La Superba,[1] based in Sicily to sail to Libya as soon as port preparations were completed. The MV Scotia Prince set sail from Port Said on Saturday 26 February 2011 and will reach Benghazi on Monday 28 February 2011.[1] The navy and charter ships will evacuate passengers from Tripoli and Benghazi to Alexandria, Egypt, from here Air India aircraft will fly the passengers to India.[13] The navy ships reached the Libya coast by 8 March 2011,[14] but it was not used since much of the evacuation had already been carried out by chartered ships and aircraft.[15] The Indian Govt has informed that evacuation will not cost anything to its nationals.[16]

After Libyan authorities gave India permission to land in Tripoli,[16] two Air India aircraft a Boeing 747 and an Airbus 330 flew 500 passengers directly to New Delhi, and Mumbai from Tripoli.[1] Additional landing rights are being requested for operating flights from Sehba, where about 1,000 of its nationals are awaiting evacuation.[17] Additionally India has been given permission to land its aircraft at Sirde and Sabah[18] where there are 2000 Indians awaiting evacuation.[17] Additionally on 2 March 2011 the Indian Government ordered all private airlines to fly one flight each to Libya, two airlines Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines will start flying from 3 March 2011,[14] they will be flying our nationals ferried to Malta from the airport at Valetta. On 3 March 2011, an Il-76 aircraft of the Indian Air Force was pressed into service to fly out the Indians to Cairo from Sirde.[17]

Several Indian nationals were crossing Libya into neighbouring countries via the land route. Some of them reached Salloum, Egypt from Tabrouk, and were met at the border by Indian embassy officials who booked their onward journey to Mumbai on an international airline.[10] Similarly 88 nationals crossed over to Ras Jedir in Tunisia. More nationals are expected to use the land route in the coming days.[10]

Aftermath

As of 2 March 2011 a total of 4500 nationals had been brought back to India.[18] About 7,000 nationals had been moved out of Libya on 3 March 2010.[19] As of 4 March 2011, just over 9,000 of its nationals had been moved out.[1] As of 7 March 2010, the nationals moved out had crossed 12,000.[20] The Indian government has announced that the evacuation will be completed by 10 March 2011.[1] After the evacuation of more than 15,000 of its nationals, the operation was slated to close on 11 March 2011.[21] About 3,000 of its nationals have decided to stay back in Libya.[21]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "India unveils Operation Safe Homecoming, thousands on way". Sify News. 20116-02-27. Retrieved 20116-02-28. ((cite news)): Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help) Cite error: The named reference "Sify1" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  2. ^ Shadid, Anthony (18 February 2011). "Libya Protests Build, Showing Revolts' Limits". The New York Times. Cairo. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  3. ^ Engel, Richard (22 February 2011). "In Libya it's 'open revolt'". World Blog. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
  4. ^ "The Economist, "Time to Leave – A correspondent reports from the border between Libya and Egypt"". The Economist. 22 February 2011. Retrieved 23 February 2011.
  5. ^ Harvey, Benjamin; Mazen, Maram; Derhally, Massoud A. (25 February 2011). "Qaddafi's Grip on Power Weakens on Loss of Territory". Bloomberg. Retrieved 25 February 2011. Qaddafi, speaking by telephone on state television yesterday, blamed the uprising against his 41-year rule on 'drugged kids' and al-Qaeda.
  6. ^ ANP (2011-02-01). "Vliegtuig geland, niet alle Nederlanders op vliegveld - VK Dossier: Onrust in het Midden-Oosten" (in Dutch). Volkskrant. Retrieved 2011-02-22.
  7. ^ "Unruhen: Westen holt Staatsbürger aus Libyen". Die Zeit.de. 2011-02-22. Retrieved 2011-02-22.
  8. ^ Libyan unrest leads to total port closures - Port Technology International
  9. ^ Al Jazeera TV[full citation needed]
  10. ^ a b c "Libya unrest: Over 500 Indians return, more arriving amid tales of woe". Economic Times. 2011-02-27. Retrieved 2011-02-28.
  11. ^ "Navy decides to despatch 3 naval warships to Libya". MSN News. 2011-02-24. Retrieved 2011-02-28.
  12. ^ "Naval ships to bail out Indians stranded in Libya". Times of India. 2011-02-27. Retrieved 2011-02-28.
  13. ^ "Indian Navy sending 3 ships to evacuate Indians from Libya". NDTV. 2011-02-24. Retrieved 2011-02-28.
  14. ^ a b "IAF joins effort to bring back Indians in Libya". Times of India. 2011-03-04. Retrieved 2011-03-04. Cite error: The named reference "TOI3" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  15. ^ "Indian warships not needed for evacuation from Libya". Times of India. 2011-03-10. Retrieved 2011-03-11.
  16. ^ a b "India begins Libya evacuations today". Zee News. 2011-02-26. Retrieved 2011-02-28.
  17. ^ a b c "India begins Libya evacuations today". Times of India. 2011-03-01. Retrieved 2011-03-01. Cite error: The named reference "TOI2" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  18. ^ a b "4500 Indians rescued from Libya". India Today. 2011-03-02. Retrieved 2011-03-02.
  19. ^ "Over 7,000 Indians to be evacuated from Libya today". Hindustan Times. 2011-03-03. Retrieved 2011-03-03.
  20. ^ "Two-thirds of Indians in Libya evacuated: MEA". The Hindu. 2011-03-07. Retrieved 2011-03-08.
  21. ^ a b "Mission Libya". The Telegraph. 2011-03-10. Retrieved 2011-03-10.
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