20110225
Xinhua
JOHANNESBURG, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- The South African government will send a plane to Libya to evacuate all its citizens still in that country, South Africa's international relations and cooperation department said on Thursday.

In a statement, the department said there are between 30 and 40 South African citizens unable to leave Libya.

The statement did not say when the plane would leave.

The Beeld newspaper published in Johannesburg reported that earlier on Thursday, South Africa's international relations and cooperation department said its ambassador in the Libyan capital Tripoli did not deem the situation bad enough for an evacuation of all South Africans.

"We are in regular contact with our embassy in Tripoli. They are on the ground (and) they continue to work as normal," department spokesperson Clayson Monyela told Beeld.

Eight South Africans who had been stuck in Libya during the unrest there arrived in South Africa on Thursday morning.

The eight South Africans were taken out of the North African country by a French military plane.