Arroyo calms Filipino workers in Kuwait

Mrs Arroyo met top Kuwaiti officials on Sunday, including Deputy Prime Minister Sheki Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah to discuss contingency plans.

Filipinos abroad

Before she left the Philippines, the president said her government was ready to provide evacuation or relocation for Filipinos in Kuwait.

Of the 1.5 million Filipinos working in the Middle East, those in Kuwait are believed to be at most risk because Baghdad has vowed to punish Kuwait for hosting US troops that would take part in any military action.

Kuwait could become a launch pad for such action and some 30,000 American troops are already massed there.

British front-line troops also began arriving in Kuwait on Sunday. There are now more than 1,000 British soldiers in the tiny emirate.

Reassurance

"I come here primarily to assure our Filipino community that your government cares about you," Mrs Arroyo told a crowd of 700 expatriates in the grounds of a royal palace.

"We will do whatever it takes to keep you out of harm's way. Our utmost responsibility is the safety and welfare of the Filipinos in the Middle East," she added.

Mrs Arroyo said her government had ear-marked one billion pesos ($18 million) for use in any emergency and that her special envoy, Roy Cimato, would remain behind in Kuwait after she leaves on Monday to work on the emergency plan.

The Filipinos who gathered to hear their president speak said she had not addressed their specific concerns but had provided comfort.

Filipino citizen Chito Santos who was at the audience with the president told Reuters news agency that there was still confusion and anxiety about the availability of gas masks in Kuwait, but that Mrs Arroyo had been a "morale booster".

Kuwait is preparing to upgrade its security ahead of a possible war with Iraq.

The defence authorities have already begun testing sirens and conducting evacuation drills, and an interior ministry official told Reuters that new security measures would be in place from mid-February.