Governments urge citizens to quit Iraq: Russian firm begins evacuation
uploaded 15 Apr 2004PARIS, April 13: France and Russia urged their citizens on Tuesday to leave the country or postpone travelling there following a spate of kidnappings and a resurgence of violence.
The Czech Republic, which has sent troops to Iraq, called on all non-military citizens to leave as officials tried to locate three Czech journalists believed kidnapped in a roadside ambush.
In Paris, French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin told parliament he was "extremely worried" about what was happening in Iraq. "I call on all nationals who are in Iraq to come back and I call on all those who plan a trip to Iraq to postpone it," Mr Raffarin said. "The situation developed as we have feared since the start of the crisis," he added.
Eight workers at a Russian firm in Iraq were freed on Tuesday after their abductors learned some of their captives were from Russia. Even so, Kremlin officials advised Russian firms to leave, and two contractors - representing the bulk of Russians working in Iraq - said they planned to pull out.
Among others abducted and then released were seven Chinese nationals, a Briton, three Pakistanis, two Turks, an Indian, a Nepalese and a Filipino. The head of Russia's Security Council urged nationals to leave Iraq and said planes were ready to evacuate them.
Russia's top firm working in Iraq said it had evacuated its entire staff. "All of our company's employees, all 370 of them, are being evacuated from Iraq," Technoprom's press spokesman said in Moscow.
"Russian citizens are encouraged not to travel to Iraq in connection with the sharp heightening of the situation there and those who are there are encouraged to leave the country," Russia's Security Council chief Igor Ivanov said in a statement.
In Ukraine, Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Gryshchenko told a news conference with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov that both countries had advised their citizens to put off travelling to Iraq. Moscow said it was ultimately up to individual firms.
Several governments issued advisories against travelling to Iraq. "We are calling on all citizens that are living in Baghdad to return to the Czech Republic," Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda told parliament.
A German foreign ministry spokeswoman said Berlin was advising its citizens to leave Iraq and warned against travel there following the disappearance of two German embassy guards in the country. They were feared to have been killed in an ambush on their way to Baghdad last week.
Source: AFP / Reuters
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