A St. Albert woman wants Canada to take military action to bring her husband home from Libya.
Hundreds of Canadians are fleeing the African nation this week after days of violent protests against its leader, Col. Moammar Gadhafi. Gadhafi, who has been in power since 1969, has begun a brutal crackdown on the protestors, with troops firing on unarmed protestors and planes strafing the crowds.
One of those Canadians is Grant Cathrea, a power engineer who lives in St. Albert. Cathrea is trapped in a guarded, walled compound near the oil-rich region of Benghazi, said his wife, Nada.
"Things are bad over there," said Nada, who is in contact with Grant by email. "They've got young people walking around with guns."
A visibly exhausted Nada said she was infuriated with Canada's failure to get its citizens out of Libya. A Canadian plane landed in Tripoli late Thursday, but left empty, reportedly because it could not find any Canadians that wanted to board.
"To me, that's horrible," she said. Even if they couldn't find any Canadians, the plane's crew should have taken any foreign nationals that were there on board. "It could have been someone else's husband on that plane."
Chaotic nation
Protestors took to the street in Libya earlier this month in response to revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt.
Those revolutions had just started when Grant left for Libya, Nada said, where he has worked at an oil and gas plant for about 14 years. "We never thought [the protests] would happen under Gadhafi's rule."
Nada said she wasn't too worried at first since the protests were initially centred on the capital, Tripoli, which is some 650 kilometres from Benghazi. But then on Thursday she heard Gadhafi had ordered planes to bomb oil and gas plants near Benghazi.
Grant confirmed by email that his plant would have been targeted, she said.
Nada said she's been in constant contact with the Department of Foreign Affairs about her husband. "All they were saying was, 'We're sorry, we're trying to get to your husband. Thank you for the information you're providing.'"
Fed up, she decided to go to the media. "I want our government to go in there and bring our people out," she said. "When is our government going to send in some military planes?"
We're trying our best, says gov't
There are about 350 Canadians registered with the embassy in Tripoli, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs website. About 177 have been evacuated with the help of allied planes and ships.
Canada has a C-17 military transport awaiting clearance to fly to Tripoli from Rome, said Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon in a statement, and has also asked the governor general to make his plane available.
Canadian transports need permission from the Libyan government before they enter the country, said Edmonton-St. Albert member of Parliament Brent Rathgeber, which, given the chaos, isn't easy to get. "The forces loyal to Gadhafi are not being remotely co-operative in allowing anyone to get out of that country."
Planes have been given extremely narrow windows during which to land and take off, he said, which is why Thursday's plane left empty. A second plane landed Friday afternoon.
The situation in Libya is unbelievable, he said, and it's tough to ask families to be patient. "We're doing all we can, but it's a difficult if not impossible situation."
In the meantime, Nada is staying glued to the TV, computer and phone, waiting for word on Grant. "I just want my husband home, that's all."
People seeking information on friends or relatives in Libya should call the Department of Foreign Affairs at 1-800-387-3124.
