U.S. Embassy in Libya evacuates personnel
(CNN) -- The U.S. Embassy in Libya evacuated its
personnel on Saturday because of heavy militia violence raging in the
capital, Tripoli, the State Department said.
About 150 personnel,
including 80 U.S. Marines were evacuated from the embassy in the early
hours of Saturday morning and were driven across the border into
Tunisia, U.S. officials confirm to CNN.
U.S. officials stress
that this is a relocation of embassy personnel and the operations have
been "temporarily suspended" until "the security situation on the ground
improves." The embassy will continue to operate from other locations.
A senior State Department
official said some of the staff from Libya will be sent to other U.S.
embassies in the region and others will come back to Washington.
CNN has learned the plan
to evacuate the Americans was in the works for several days, but the
decision to carry out the plan was made just in the last few days as the
security situation around the embassy deteriorated.
President Obama approved
the State Department recommendation to temporarily relocate personnel
because of the "ongoing violence resulting from clashes between Libyan
militias in the immediate vicinity" of the embassy, a White House
official said.
State Department
spokeswoman Marie Harf said the United States is grateful to Tunisia
"for its cooperation and support." She said the personnel are "traveling
onward" from Tunisia.
"We are committed to
supporting the Libyan people during this challenging time, and are
currently exploring options for a permanent return to Tripoli as soon as
the security situation on the ground improves. In the interim, staff
will operate from Washington and other posts in the region," Harf said
in a statement.
"Securing our facilities
and ensuring the safety of our personnel are top Department priorities,
and we did not make this decision lightly. Security has to come first.
Regrettably, we had to take this step because the location of our
embassy is in very close proximity to intense fighting and ongoing
violence between armed Libyan factions.
Militia fighting in the area of the embassy and airport has degraded security in Tripoli significantly.
Eyewitnesses in Tripoli
told CNN's Jomana Karadsheh that in the early hours of Saturday there
was "a lot of movement with fighter jets and helicopters."
The Libyan government was informed of the evacuation after it was carried out, according to U.S. officials.
"Robust" force was ready to protect evacuees
The Pentagon had a
"robust package of military forces" in the vicinity but out of sight,
ready to move in if the convoy of evacuees had come under attack.
CNN has learned there
were two F-16s on combat air patrol overhead, a drone tracking the
convoy to the border and a Navy destroyer offshore in the Mediterranean.
There were also several
dozen heavily armed Marines flying overhead on V-22 Osprey aircraft in
an "airborne response force" that were prepared to land and rapidly
evacuate the Americans during the transit to the Tunisian border if they
came under attack.
The Pentagon had pressed
for weeks to evacuate the embassy, especially after the Tripoli airport
came under repeated militia attack, leaving Americans no way to get out
via commercial air, the official said.
The decision to use
vehicles to drive the Americans across the border was seen as the best
low-profile approach to conducting the evacuation rather than sending
U.S. military helicopters and troops into Tripoli.
Harf said the United
States will work with Libya and the international community "to seek a
peaceful resolution to the current conflict and to advance Libya's
democratic transition."
"We reiterate that
Libyans must immediately cease hostilities and begin negotiations to
resolve their grievances. We join the international community in calling
on all Libyans to respect the will of the people, including the
authority of the recently-elected Council of Representatives, and to
reject the use of violence to affect political processes. Many brave
Libyans sacrificed to advance their country toward a more secure and
prosperous future. We continue to stand solidly by the Libyan people as
they endeavor to do so," Harf said.
Secretary of State John
Kerry, at the U.S. Embassy in Paris meeting with the Turkish and Qatari
Foreign Ministers Saturday, called upon various factions to engage in a
political process saying "the current course of violence would only
bring chaos." Kerry added that due to the "freewheeling militia violence
that is taking place in Tripoli" the U.S. along with other countries,
one of them Turkey have decided to "suspended our current diplomatic
activities at the Embassy."
Tensions escalate
The United Nations and
other international organizations and businesses temporarily evacuated
staff from Libya earlier this month.
Nearly three years after
the revolution and NATO military intervention that overthrew the regime
of Moammar Gadhafi, central government has been outgunned by
increasingly powerful militias.
The civil war that culminated in Moammar Gadhafi's 2011 death has given way to warring militias fighting over Tripoli's international airport.
The State Department
"recommends that U.S. citizens currently in Libya depart immediately" in
a travel warning issued on Saturday.
This comes nearly two years after attacks on U.S. government facilities in the Libyan city of Benghazi.
The assaults of
September 11-12, 2012, left four Americans dead, including U.S.
Ambassador Chris Stevens, and spawned political controversy in
Washington. Republican lawmakers have claimed the Obama administration
tried to mislead the public about the cause of the attacks and should
have done more to prevent them.
GOP critics say they
plan to make Benghazi an issue for former Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton, under whose watch the attacks occurred, should she decide to
run for president.
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