U.S. government issues travel warning for Egypt, urges Americans to leave

2011-01-30 21:14:54 GMT+7 (ICT)

WASHINGTON, D.C. (BNO NEWS) -- The U.S. government on Sunday issued a travel warning for Egypt, urging Americans to leave the African nation 'as soon as they can safely do so'.

Egypt plunged into chaos on Friday when tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Cairo and other major cities to demand the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak. Some of them clashed with security forces, killing at least 150 people and injuring more than 4,000 others. Protests continued on Saturday and Sunday.

Since the escalation of unrest on Friday, the U.S. government had already issued a travel alert for Egypt, urging Americans to defer non-essential travel to Egypt. It was upgraded to a travel warning on Sunday, the most serious warning the U.S. can issue.

"The U.S. Department of State recommends that U.S. citizens avoid travel to Egypt due to ongoing political and social unrest," the Department said, adding that the U.S. government has authorized the voluntary departure of dependents and non-emergency employees.

The U.S. government further urged American citizens to obey the daily 4 p.m. to 8 a.m curfew in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez. "U.S. citizens currently in Egypt should consider leaving as soon as they can safely do so," the travel warning said.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-01-30

The US embassy is closed and apparently a phone message refers callers to a website. The problem is that the internet is down. International phone service to Egypt can be unreliable at the best of times, so I don't see how rerouting the telephone line to the help desk in the USA would have helped in case anyone suggests that.

Looking at the news reports, the airport is inundated with desperate foreigners attempting to flee but there are multiple cancelled flights.

Reminds me of the airport closures in Thailand and in Lebanon last war when western governments were caught flatfooted. In the case of Lebanon, it cost foreign governments hundreds of millions of euros/$$ to send evacuation ferries. This situation was obvious last week and people didn't respond correctly. Western governments didn't post travel advisories until recently, not that tourists heed such warnings. Egypt just kissed its important tourism business goodbye for at least a year. Tunisia's tourism industry is in collapse as foreigners have cancelled in droves.

The impact for Thai expats & visitors will be a move to even stronger warnings next time the natives get restless in Bangkok.