In the first phase priorities would be given to evacuating about 1,200 women and children.Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The team that will be assigned to evacuate Indonesian citizens in Egypt is leaving for that country on Monday night, Evacuation Task Force Chairman Hassan Wirajuda said.
"We will send an advance team tonight," Wirajuda said at the Presidential Office here on Monday.
He said that the team was expected to leave for Egypt at 3.0 a.m Tuesday at the latest.
The former foreign minister said that the advance team would arrange everything needed in the first phase of evacuation of the thousands of Indonesians in Egypt.
In the first phase priorities would be given to evacuating about 1,200 women and children.
This number could however change in accordance with the situation and developments, Wirajuda said.
He said that the government made three airplanes available for the first phase of the evacuation. The three planes will come from Garuda Indonesia, Lion Air and Sriwijaya Air.
Wirajuda said that the airplanes would also transport various kinds of logistic supplies to meet the daily need of the Indonesians still staying in Egypt.
The government has named Nasr City as the meeting point before evacuation is carried out. This city is near to the place where Indonesians are gathering.
In the meantime, Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said that planes were now ready to fly to Egypt to carry out evacuation of Indonesians in Egypt.
However, the Indonesian government still needed to coordinate with the Egyptian government to obtain license for the planes to land in that country.
According to Marty, the Indonesian government`s decision to evacuate its citizens was based on the dangerous situation in Egypt.
He said that the security authority in Egypt now was the military, no longer police. Even, a police station near the Indonesian embassy has reportedly destroyed by demonstrators.
The foreign ministry`s latest data indicated that Indonesian citizens staying in Egypt numbered 6,149, consisting of 4,297 students and 1,002 employees and their family members.
They are now building communications in 20 command posts.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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