Secret mission flies 132 from Libya

Berlin (AP):

The German air force evacuated 132 people from the Libya desert in a secret military mission, the country's foreign minister disclosed yesterday, but thousands of other foreigners were still stuck in Tripoli by bad weather and red tape.

Two German military planes landed last Saturday on a private runway belonging to the Wintershall AG company and evacuated 22 Germans and 112 others, Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in Berlin. The military planes later landed safely that night on the Greek island of Crete.

Another 18 German citizens were rescued by the British military in a separate military operation Saturday that targeted remote oil installations in the Libyan desert, Westerwelle said. Around 100 other German citizens were still in Libya and the government was trying to get them out as quickly as possible, he said.

dangerous situation

German military missions abroad need approval by parliament, and Westerwelle said he had spoken to all party leaders in parliament last Friday to tell them about the upcoming military mission. He said the coalition government, led by Chancellor Angela Merkel, had evaluated the situation in Libya as "very dangerous" and, therefore, ordered an immediate evacuation by the air force.