Support for Ex-pats?

[Cyprus100]

At the end of the day if the British government have to help remove us they will charge us and I believe they may only move us to the nearest safe country.

Oh, looks like you could end up with some time in Cyprus then!
We're close enough to you, we're safe (although maybe not sound, financially) and we've got the Sovereign Bases here too. The heat will feel the same but it will be a damn site sweatier as the humidity has gone off the scale since Thursday.

[TAL777]

I'm sure Richard Branson would lease out one of his planes (for his own marketing purposes) to come and rescue you...and we will end up paying for it.

That said, if I were in your position I wouldn't expect nor anticipate any help from anyone just because you are British... In my view that doesn't make someone any more important than the average Egyptian who has to deal with this crisis with no escape route..

[Who2]

Totally agree with TAL, I made my bed here and I intend to lay in it or on it.
Over the last 6 years it was obvious something had to give that's one reason I came here, standing on the threshold of history in the making....
Ps: I only know of 1 ex-pat here that supports the Muslin Brotherhood, and she say's she lives in an MB village which unless one is totally stupid, 'when in Rome...

[Ruby Slippers]

I don't think that ex-pats will get any help at all, going by what happened to the white South Africans who were being dispossessed and murdered. They had to flee to their mother countries under their own steam and rely on friends and relatives to keep them. And they were specific targets!

[Chocolate Eclair]

At least some of the ex pats will get to see the Jolie Ville if this happens. But I wonder how many would up sticks and go, and how many would just stick it out, many have very good friends around the villages they live in, and many employ local people, who would ensure their safety.

[TAL777]

I don't think that ex-pats will get any help at all, going by what happened to the white South Africans who were being dispossessed and murdered. They had to flee to their mother countries under their own steam and rely on friends and relatives to keep them. And they were specific targets!

White South Africans were...South African...that is why they didn't get any help and nor did they deserve any.

I'm not sure that Luxor Ex-pats would welcome that comparison given all the historical connotations, but I might be wrong...

[Chocolate Eclair]

Regarding support, many of us walk with sticks and walking aids anyway

[Chocolate Eclair]

Who is the ex pat MB member supporter that lives in an MB village, is that on the WB or EB? I don't know of one. It may be that person is protecting their business at the moment.

[Dusak]

The wardens only receive the same information as the rest of you do via e-mails from the Embassy web site. There is a contingency plan for evacuation, and any evacuation will provide for any ex-pat and their immediate family members [irrespective of nationality if legally married] that wish to join the evacuation if needed. If you join those that want to leave, up to you, if not, up to you. I do not require any tax payers money from the thousands I paid to the government in just my last five years working as a property developer, not even mentioning the thousands before that. Those that belly ache about receiving such help in any times of emergency can have my share. I will be staying here unless forcibly removed by what ever government is in existence at that point in time. I'm beginning to feel that some would desperately enjoy the fact that we expats are asked to leave.

[Chocolate Eclair]

D, I did not realise this, I thought that if evacuation was implemented all had to take part, I did not realise that at the end of the day it was your choice.

After reading one post they are very right, when the troubles started in Libya the ex pats were taken across the Med. and no further, I know of one who is not an ex pat who cannot wait for this, it will save them the money they so desperately seekijng to get home. The trouble is they will be flying out of the fat and into the frying pan.

[Ruby Slippers]

I don't think that ex-pats will get any help at all, going by what happened to the white South Africans who were being dispossessed and murdered. They had to flee to their mother countries under their own steam and rely on friends and relatives to keep them. And they were specific targets!

White South Africans were...South African...that is why they didn't get any help and nor did they deserve any.

I'm not sure that Luxor Ex-pats would welcome that comparison given all the historical connotations, but I might be wrong...

Apologies for not making myself clear. I meant Europeans who had gone to South Africa after WW2 to work and live. As for not deserving any help, murder is murder in my book, and I can't agree with standing by and allowing it to happen, but perhaps you meant something different?

[TAL777]

I don't think that ex-pats will get any help at all, going by what happened to the white South Africans who were being dispossessed and murdered. They had to flee to their mother countries under their own steam and rely on friends and relatives to keep them. And they were specific targets!

White South Africans were...South African...that is why they didn't get any help and nor did they deserve any.

I'm not sure that Luxor Ex-pats would welcome that comparison given all the historical connotations, but I might be wrong...

Apologies for not making myself clear. I meant Europeans who had gone to South Africa after WW2 to work and live. As for not deserving any help, murder is murder in my book, and I can't agree with standing by and allowing it to happen, but perhaps you meant something different?

You are on difficult ground here Ruby, perhaps inadvertently so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.

The Europeans who went to South Africa became South African citizens indeed they took over governing that country with minority rule under a vile Apartheid system, oppressing the majority. They therefore created a deep-rooted enmity for themselves over several decades.

There isn't a direct comparison with a few thousand Ex-pats living in Egypt.

[Ruby Slippers]

Dusak, I don't think that anyone on the site would enjoy seeing the expats forcibly evicted! But I do think that an awful lot of us who are not there are getting really anxious about the safety of people we have come to regard as 'friends' and worry about contingency plans to evacuate should the need arise. The questions are not being asked through ill-will, but concern!

[Ruby Slippers]

TAL, I was decrying the disinterest of the British government generally, not getting into specifics.

[Chocolate Eclair]

RS, I think there is not too much to worry about at the moment, its mostly quiet, and the Security Forces seem to have ringed Luxor. I appreciate what you see on your media is disturbing, but take care on reading too much into the normally inflated media. Would it not be a good thing for the media to look for people that live here and ask them how they feel about their safety, and living in Luxor, that will be the proof of the pudding.

But I can understand your concerns, I am sure many of us that live here have had messages from family and friends that have seen their media reports and show the same concerns

[carrie]

CE I dont know how this ex pat you are speaking of thinks that Embassy evacuation would save them money. When it last arised and a plane was sent to Cairo, it cost 300 english for a trip not back to the UK but to Jordon.
I'm staying put dont want anyone to go to any expense,or trouble to get me out.
I know it sound strange and unbelievable when watching the reports on TV etc but I still feel safe here, I dont want to endanger any of my EuropeanlEgyptian friends here by their feeling they have to protect me. I'm a big girl and not completely stupid. I will leave if it becomes absolutely impossible for me to stay.

[HEPZIBAH]

Reading some comments it would seem that some people actually living in Luxor and the surrounding area, assume that those of us in the UK and other non Egyptian countries, rely solely on information given out by the media (media being a very big umbrella word in itself in my opinion).

Personally, I have not watched the television news much at all and I certainly have not listened to the radio or read newspapers. That does not mean that I have not got a good idea of what is going on in Luxor and the rest of Egypt at the moment. I sometimes think I am better informed than some in Luxor ( who appear to live in little sanitised bubbles ) because I am in daily contact with many people, of different nationalities including Egyptians, and who are of differing religious and political persuasions. I know I am not alone in this.

I know that some people in Luxor think it is safe, and so far, thankfully, that has been the case for them. It most certainly has not been the case for all and the fear some locals and expats have felt is more than real (and can be felt across the distance to those they are in contact with).

With regard to the question of 'having to leave Luxor' I see some have said they would not wish to take part in any evacuation but would rather wait and sit it out. That is fair enough. However, there has also been comment by some (I am writing generally and not specific to this thread) that they would not wish to be evacuated and would only leave if they really had to, implying this would be a decision made after any official evacuation. I wonder at what point it could become too late. If a government have operated an evacuation of it's citizens from a country, no matter how flawed that may seem, they are not going to be repeating that. It would be fair to assume that gradually airports would be closed for one reason or another, so how would people get themselves out of the hot spot where it to become one? I have been stuck in a landlocked country during a military coup and the airport shut down so it is not too difficult for my imagination to deal with this. Also all phone communication was cut. This was in the days well before mobile phones and private computers. I was fortunate as, other than the President and his security staff being killed it was a bloodless coup. Egypt, whether this is a coup or not, is showing it's violent side and tribal instincts are also coming to the fore.

I wish all my friends and contacts in Egypt well, but I fear too many are not taking things seriously enough!

EDIT: I originally wrote '(I am writing generally and specific to this thread)'
This should have read '(I am writing generally and not specific to this thread)
Sorry.

[carrie]

I'm not complacent Hepz, far from it, I also listen to the voices on the street, differing voices and most of them are telling me that in thier opinion it is safe for me to stay. They have nothing to gain by my staying or leaving but have all told me that if they think it is unsafe to remain then they will be the first to inform me. I dont want to endanger any one by my staying here, thinking that they have to protect me or my property, if that was the case then I would leave.

[Brian Yare]

I have been stuck in a landlocked country during a military coup and the airport shut down so it is not too difficult for my imagination to deal with this. Also all phone communication was cut. This was in the days well before mobile phones and private computers.

I was fortunate to pass through Warsaw airport in 1981/2 about 3 hours before it was closed due to the uprising there. So I did not actually experience that situation. If I had been there, during the uprising, not of my own volition, I would have welcomed assistance from my employer or my government, but luckily this was not necessary.

[Goddess]

The wardens only receive the same information as the rest of you do via e-mails from the Embassy web site.

Really??
The FCO send me the email, which points here:
https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/egypt

And I can assure you it in no way resembles the detailed information that the wardens recieve by email and then paste all over facebook.
It wouldn't get up my trousers quite so much if the same information was available everywhere, but the fact that the Embassy is too bloody lazy to paste it onto their own fb page, is getting right on my left nip.