SLOVAKIA: Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle says German ships will start transporting Egyptian refugees home

Record ID: 1547974

  • Title: SLOVAKIA: Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle says German ships will start transporting Egyptian refugees home
  • Date: 4th March 2011
  • Summary: BRATISLAVA, SLOVAKIA (MARCH 3, 2011) (REUTERS) (*** FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY ***) VARIOUS OF GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER GUIDO WESTERWELLE ARRIVING IN CAR / BEING GREETED BY SLOVAK FOREIGN MINISTER MIKULAS DZURINDA WESTERWELLE WALKING IN (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER, GUIDO WESTERWELLE, SAYING: "I don't want to speculate which further humanitarian steps will be taken. The pictures we are receiving are heart-breaking. One simply cannot look away. Now one must help. This is a time of change. And in times of change everyone has to seize the moment so that everything is tackled. I presume that the first operative measures will be taken tomorrow." MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER, GUIDO WESTERWELLE, SAYING: "We will now begin transporting refugees to Egypt with naval forces so that the situation in Tunisia can be eased. For us that is an act of humanity. We will most likely use three ships of the German navy for this purpose. I would like to thank the German armed forces for their work." VARIOUS OF ROUNDTABLE TALKS WITH WESTERWELLE SITTING
  • Embargoed: 19th March 2011 02:49
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Slovakia, Slovakia
  • Country: Slovakia
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAE0SF4MKP7WQTRB6U5VRLHU0H
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: Germany will use war ships to return Egyptian refugees stuck in Tunisia to Egypt after they fled there to escape violence in Libya, Germany's Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said on Thursday (March 3).
    "We will now begin transporting refugees to Egypt with naval forces so that the situation in Tunisia can be eased," Westerwelle said at a meeting of the so-called Visegrad group in Bratislava. "We will most likely use three ships of the German navy for this purpose. I would like to thank the German armed forces for their work."
    He said that now was the time to help.
    "The pictures we are receiving are heart-breaking. One simply cannot look away. Now one must help."
    Help is an act of humanity, the minister said.
    Europe and the United States on Wednesday (March 2) mobilised planes, ships and funds to help a massive evacuation effort at Tunisia's border with Libya, in response to UN pleas to repatriate the thousands fleeing the violence.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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