MFAT Media Information
18 February 2010
1 pm

General Situation and Advice
Protests and unrest continue in a number of Middle Eastern and North African countries, including Bahrain, Libya, Jordan, Yemen, Egypt and Tunisia.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade encourages New Zealanders in, or travelling to, the Middle East or North Africa to register their details on the Safetravel website www.safetravel.govt.nz

Registering on the site helps embassy staff to contact and quickly provide advice to New Zealanders if an emergency occurs.

All New Zealanders travelling overseas should have comprehensive medical and travel insurance policies in place

Update on Bahrain
The Ministry’s travel advice for Bahrain has been updated to advise New Zealanders to avoid the area in which the unrest is occurring, to monitor the media and to heed the advice of local authorities.

The travel advisory risk level remains at ‘some risk’ with the addition of the threat to safety from civil unrest as well as from terrorism.

193 New Zealanders are registered with MFAT as being in Bahrain

http://www.safetravel.govt.nz/destinations/bahrain.shtml

Update on Egypt
The travel advisory for Egypt has been reviewed following some improvement to the security situation.

The travel advisory risk level has been lowered from 'extreme risk' to 'high risk'.

We now advise against all tourist and other non-essential travel to Egypt due to the unpredictable security situation (we were previously advising against all travel).

International airports in Egypt remain open and are operating normally.

We continue to advise New Zealanders in Egypt to avoid all areas where protests may occur, exercise caution in public places, maintain a high level of personal security awareness, monitor developments through local media, respect curfew provisions and adhere to all instructions issued by the local authorities.

New Zealanders travelling and living in Egypt should have comprehensive medical and travel insurance policies in place and are strongly encouraged to register their details with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, www.safetravel.govt.nz

162 New Zealanders are registered as being in Egypt.
http://www.safetravel.govt.nz/destinations/egypt.shtml

ENDS

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