Cairo/Addis Ababa: United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday called for calm, non-violence and respect for human rights in Egypt amid the widening unrest in which more than 150 people have died in the last two days alone.
"With respect to Egypt, I once again make a call for restraint, non-violence, and respect for fundamental freedoms and human rights," Ban said at an African Union summit in Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. "Around the world, the leaders (and ourselves) must listen ... more attentively, more sincerely to the voice of the people, their aspirations, their hopes for a better future," Ban said.
A strong military presence remained on the streets of some parts of Cairo early Sunday, as Egyptian protesters called for a sixth day of demonstrations across the country.
Ban’s comments came as the Saudi press agency reported that Saudi King Abdullah has told President Barack Obama that there should be no bargaining about Egypt's stability and the security of its people.
SPA said Sunday that Obama phoned the king in Morocco, where he is recuperating from surgery, and that both leaders were not happy with the chaotic situation and looting.
It said the king talked Saturday to President Hosni Mubarak and assured him that the Saudi government and people stands with the Egyptian government and people.
As the unrest intensified, the United States and Turkey said on Sunday they were offering to evacuate citizens wanting to leave Egypt.
Other governments advised their citizens to leave the country or to avoid travelling there if possible, although the Russian tourist agency said 40,000 Russians at Red Sea resorts had no intention of cutting short their holidays.
"The US embassy in Cairo informs US citizens in Egypt who wish to depart that the Department of State is making arrangements to provide transportation to safe haven locations in Europe," the US statement said. "Flights to evacuation points will begin departing Egypt on Monday, January 31," it said, describing the evacuation as voluntary.
In addition, an advisory released by the State Department “recommends that US citizens avoid travel to Egypt due to ongoing political and social unrest.” It also authorized “the voluntary departure of dependents and non-emergency employees,” including diplomats.
Turkey is sending three Turkish Airlines planes to Egypt on Sunday, one to Cairo and two to Alexandria, to evacuate its 750 citizens, the state-run Anatolian news agency quoted embassy officials in Cairo as saying.
Britain hardened its advice to Britons in Egypt, advising nationals to leave Cairo, Suez and Alexandria "where it is safe to do so". It said there were no plans to evacuate British diplomatic staff. European tour operators and airlines have cancelled trips to Cairo since protesters took to the streets, dealing a blow to a tourism industry which provides about one in eight jobs in the country.
Witnesses said businesses were starting to evacuate their staff and reported scenes of chaos at the airport, where many people, including Egyptians, were trying to get flights out of the country.
The Belgian travel agency Jetair announced Sunday that it would evacuate all its clients. "We have decided to evacuate all our travellers from Egypt," it said in a notice on its website. The agency said it had cancelled all its vacation packages to Egypt until February 6.
In the residential area of Cairo, two big buses were parked outside the offices of the Italian oil firm ENI to evacuate families, witnesses said. One foreign employee of the company said his wife and three children would go but he would stay. There was no immediate comment from the ENI. "It's not an issue during the day, it's at night when we don't know what will happen," the employee said.
Near the buses was a four-wheel-drive vehicle with security men. Several foreign families were waiting to board the buses.
In Baku, an Azeri Foreign Ministry spokesman said an accountant at the Azeri embassy in Egypt was killed in street clashes in Cairo late on Saturday on his way home from work.
The spokesman said the government was sending a plane to Cairo on Sunday to pick up the body and evacuate about 70 Azeris studying in Egypt.
China issued a warning to its citizens in Egypt, urging Chinese travellers to reconsider their plans or seek assistance from the Chinese embassy.
Most of the estimated 40,000 Russians holidaying in Egypt, mostly in resorts around Khurgada and Sharm Al Shaikh, have no plans to cut short their trips despite the unrest, the acting head of the Russian Federal Tourism Agency,
Alexander Radkov, told Interfax news agency on Saturday. "On the whole, the situation in Egyptian resorts remains calm. Tourists are resting normally. We have no worries about them so far ... People do not want to interrupt their holiday," he said.
