Prime Minister Stephen Harper says the Canadian government will pursue sanctions against Libya in partnership with other nations,“or unilaterally, if necessary.”
The Prime Minister made the statement on Friday evening as international pressure mounts on the regime of Muammar Gaddafi and foreigners scrambled to leave the country on the brink of a possible civil war.
After a second unsuccessful bid by the federal government in as many days to fly Canadian citizens out of Libya, NATO on Friday offered to help in what has become a worldwide scramble to evacuate foreign nationals from escalating violence in the African nation.
“Many countries are evacuating their citizens. Clearly this is a massive challenge,” NATO military alliance chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters during ministerial talks with the European Union in Hungary.
“I will meet with EU defence ministers to see how in a pragmatic way we can help those in need,” Mr. Rasmussen said, as governments rushed to evacuate tens of thousands of their citizens from the North African state.
It was unclear whether the NATO offer might help Canadians in the Libya— which has been beset by a bloody uprising against the 41-year reign of dictator Moammar Gadhafi — nor even how many Canadians were still in the country, looking to get out.
Nearly 200 Canadians have been safely evacuated from Libya, landing safely in the U.K., Malta, Madrid and Turkey overnight, after making their way on to flights chartered by European nations.
However, Ottawa’s effort to participate in the evacuation has seemingly faltered, sparking anger and frustration among those left to fend for themselves in the country and criticism from the opposition Liberals.
Amid conflicting and chaotic reports from Libya, a Canadian government official said the latest flight set up by Ottawa to pick up Canadians stranded in the capital of Tripoli actually left empty Friday.
“There were no Canadians at the airport at the time, and the aircraft cannot stay put,” a government official told Postmedia News in an emailed statement.
“There were no other citizens from like-minded countries who needed a flight.”
The flight had planned to take any stranded Canadians to Amman, Jordan.
“We have another (Canadian) charter now in the air, expected to arrive in Tripoli at 12:45 local time,” the source later said.
It was unclear why there had been no Canadians to meet the airplane, especially in light of the desperate efforts many have made in recent days to leave the embattled nation.
A government spokeswoman declined to say how much the aborted flight had cost the Canadian government.
The unsuccessful flight came a day after another flight chartered by the federal government had to be cancelled due to security concerns on the ground and at the airport in Tripoli.
Nonetheless, the government has said getting trapped Canadians out of the country is its“No. 1 priority.”
Defence Minister Peter MacKay said Friday that the Canadian government also has a large C-17 military cargo plane on standby in Rome.
The military plane could be used to pick up a large number of Canadians from Tripoli, depending on the need.
Once travellers arrive in a safe location, they are then responsible for the cost of further travel.
As of Friday morning, at least 177 Canadians have been safely evacuated from Libya. Just over 200 Canadians registered with the embassy in Tripoli have indicated they wish to leave the country.
The British Foreign Office confirmed that 31 Canadians were on board HMS Cumberland, a British naval vessel. That ship was expected to arrive in Malta on Friday evening.
More than two dozen Canadians have also endured a tense delay at they waited on a ship set to leave Tripoli. The vessel was delayed by bad weather.
There was a report from Agence France-Presse Friday that a delayed U.S.-chartered ferry—the M/V Maria Delores — carrying more than 300 evacuees departed for the island of Malta.
Mustafa Kamaliddin of Calgary has been waiting anxiously to see his father, Louay, who works at an oilfield about 1,500 kilometres outside Tripoli.
Louay, a maintenance engineer at a site operated by a Spanish company, was in Sabha— about 800 kilometres south of the capital — and hoped to fly out of that city’s airport either Friday or Saturday on a flight arranged through his company.
Mustafa said he and his mother have received numerous phone calls with status updates, which have eased their tensions, but considering Louay travelled a long distance over risky roads to reach the Sabha airport, they say they know he was fortunate.
“At the beginning, we were really concerned because we are Middle Eastern by origin and we know what this leader is capable of,” Mustafa said Friday.
“When you have to drive in the desert, there’s no paved roads. You have to know your way around and there’s a lot of bandits on the roads. Now that he’s in the city, we feel a bit better, but you never know.”
Louay has worked for the company for about 12 years and operates on a five-week rotation between Libya and Calgary. He had been scheduled to return home for vacation Saturday.
“We’ve been doing this for more than 10 years and every time he leaves and comes back, we get relieved, but this time we just can’t wait to see him because it’s been really nerve-racking.”
Mr. MacKay on Friday continued the federal government’s condemnation — in increasingly strong terms — of violent efforts in the African nation to suppress the uprising.
Mr. MacKay condemned the ongoing violence in Libya as“insidious” and lashed out at the country’s leadership.
“Libya has experienced ... yet another night of violence. I fear Libyans feel no safer today than they did yesterday,” Mr. MacKay said in Ottawa.
“Through their struggle for democracy, they have endured unforgettable chaos, violence and a regime that inexplicably and outrageously attacks its own citizens.
“The outrageous and insidious abuse of government power in Libya must stop and we, Canada, stand united with like-minded peaceful nations in support of the legitimate aspirations of the people of Libya.”
There were fresh signs the violence was continuing Friday, as witnesses said that forces loyal to Gadhafi had opened fire on protesters in several areas of the Libyan capital after weekly Muslim prayers.
“There were deaths in the streets of Sug al-Jomaa,” a witness told Agence France-Presse.
Postmedia News, with a file from Agence France-Presse
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