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Europeans and Americans evacuate their nationals

    ABIDJAN

    Britain’s Royal Air Force evacuated about 80 European citizens from Sierra Leone on Friday following fighting near Freetown.
    Two C-130 Hercules transport planes flew the evacuees to the Senegalese capital, Dakar, for an onward flight to London. They included nationals of Ireland, Finland, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Italy and Spain. There was also one Canadian and one Mexican, Reuters reported on Saturday, quoting a British Foreign Ministry official. The US closed operations at its embassy and ordered all US government personnel to leave. The airlifts follow hit and run attacks by rebels near Freetown.

    NGOs have also evacuated international staff. The WFP, UNICEF and UNOMSIL still have some staff in Freetown, but other UN agencies have evacuated their personnel to Guinea and Cote d’Ivoire, a UN official told IRIN today.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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