Libya: Chadians repatriated with Hungarian assistance

Hungarian Ministry of the Interior arranged return flights for the, 174 Chadian citizens from Djerba, Tunisia to N’Djamena, the capital of Chad, on board of an Airbus 30 carrier on 20 April 2011.

The Ministry of the Interior together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs shared the cost of the tickets (Interior paid three-quarters and Foreign affairs, one quarter).   The European Commission will refund half of the expenditure in arrears subject to an application, which the Hungarian Government has already submitted.

Over ten thousand third country nationals are still staying in provisional refugee camps near the Libyan-Tunisian; and the Libyan–Egyptian borders. The EU’s Monitoring and Information Centre had formerly supported the repatriation of more than 25 thousand third country nationals.

The Hungarian Presidency has assisted with the evacuation of EU citizens, from Libya. On behalf of the Presidency, János Martonyi initiated the European Union’s Civil Protection Mechanism (CPM,) on 23 February 2011. Later, on 27 February, the Hungarian airlines, Malév, chartered a flight, which landed in Budapest, with 96 citizens of 10 European countries on board, including 24 Hungarians, who were escorted by the officers of the Counter-Terrorism Centre, the document experts of the Ministry of Interior, and members of the Hungarian Baptist Aid. The group was welcomed in the Hungarian capital by Foreign Minister János Martonyi, and Defence Minister Csaba Hende.