Other missions
Ivory Coast
Early November 2004, whilst the exercise Low Land was in full swing, the Chief of the Dutch Defence Staff, gave the order for an evacuation operation in Ivory Coast. Following the evacuation of Dutch citizens from Ivory Coast the Ambassador, his essential staff and his Residence had to be guarded for as long as the Ambassador was able to do his work. When that became no longer possible the Ambassador and his staff had to be evacuated ‘under guard’. This too was carried out successfully.
The Middle East
In 2006 the Royal Netherlands Commandos took part in an operation in the Middle East (in support of a Dutch Embassy). This was carried out in cooperation with the Royal Military Police, the Marechaussee.
The marechaussee / commando detachment provided the embassy with support for six days in a city spiraling into chaos. The embassy remained, supported by the joint detachment, continually manned up until the last Dutch citizen wanting to leave the country had been helped.
On the fourth day of developments 95% of the Dutch had been evacuated from the country in question and it was clear that the capital would no longer come under fire. Based on the situation as it had arisen and given that all other nationalities had begun to scale down their military presence the commandos moved their detachment to a neighbouring country a few days later. By helicopter they were able to fly out of the capital to an airfield in the region. The following day the commandos took a civilian flight back to the Netherlands.
