Ericsson
07-19-2006, 09:31 PM
There are an estimated 50,000 Canadians in Lebanon; 30,000 of them are registered with the Canadian Embassy in Beirut. Canadians make up one of the largest foreign communities in the country.
When cross-border fighting put Canadian citizens in Lebanon in danger — and eight Canadians were killed by the blasts — Ottawa scrambled to find a way to get them out.
It is the largest-scale evacuation in Canadian history.
Here's how it's unfolding:
July 19, 2006:
The evacuation of Canadian citizens from Lebanon begins. Hundreds of Canadians gather at the port of Beirut to board ships chartered by the Canadian government. They wait for hours before the first ship starts taking passengers. The ship is expected to arrive in Cyprus by nighttime.
Ottawa has arranged for seven ships – six vessels will shuttle evacuees to Turkey and one ship is heading for Cyprus. From there, they are expected to board chartered flights for Canada, at Ottawa's expense.
http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/images/news/maps/2006/07/19/middleeast_evac_routes2.jpg Handfuls of Canadians say they're not waiting for Canada's evacuation plan; some of them have already boarded ships arranged by other countries and have arrived back in Canada.
CBC STORY: Exhausted Canadians spend hours waiting for ships in Beirut (http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2006/07/19/evacuation-ships.html)Prime Minister Stephen Harper announces during a news conference that he intends to fly from Paris to Cyprus in a government plane to help the evacuation. He says he will try to bring back as many as 120 Canadians. He was scheduled to head home to Canada after meeting with French President Jacques Chirac. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert assures Harper that officials will ensure safe passage of Canadians out of Lebanon.
CBC STORY: Harper to fly to Cyprus to help with evacuation (http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2006/07/19/harper-evacuation.html)Other countries also bring home their nationals:
More than 1,000 Americans leave Beirut's port sailing on an eight-deck cruise liner, the first mass evacuation of U.S. citizens. Four Chinook transport helicopters ferry 800 Americans from Beirut to Larnaca airport in Cyprus. Sea stallion choppers were used earlier in the week. U.S. Brig.-Gen. Carl Jensen estimates that 6,000 Americans will be evacuated from Lebanon by the weekend.
A Greek vessel leaves Beirut carrying as many as 500 Europeans. Denmark evacuates more than 4,000 of its citizens from the country. Six British ships, including two aircraft carriers, stand by to rescue Britons. A British ship reaches Cyprus with 180 people from Beirut. Prime Minister Tony Blair says about 5,000 of their nationals would be moved by the end of the week. French citizens board a ship at the port of Beirut. A second wave of French nationals arrives in a Paris airport from Cyprus.
July 18, 2006:
Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay says Canadians should be able to start leaving Lebanon on July 19. Canadian officials contact Canadian citizens in Lebanon, telling them when and where to meet one of the seven ships chartered by Ottawa, which can carry about 2,000 passengers a day. Ottawa is in talks with Israel and Lebanon to ease the passage of the evacuees.
Meanwhile, opposition leaders back at home criticize the government's evacuation plan. NDP Leader Jack Layton says, "The south is isolated. There doesn't seem to be a plan," for Canadians stranded there.
Harper says the evacuation is happening "extraordinarily quickly" under the circumstances. "Our officials have been in contact with literally thousands of people in Lebanon to prepare this and have lined up resources in several countries to make it possible," Harper says during a news conference in Paris with French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin.
CBC STORY: Evacuation of Canadians from Lebanon to start Wednesday (http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2006/07/18/evacuation-logistics.html)The U.S. ambassador pledges that by the end of the week, their evacuation would be escalated to 1,000 Americans a day.
July 17, 2006:
Harper says Canada expects to be able to move Canadians out by the middle of the week. Canada will send two commercial ships to collect Canadians who want out of the country. Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay later announces they have six ships ready.
MacKay insists the government is moving quickly to transport the 50,000 Canadians from Lebanon, even though the first evacuee will not leave until July 19, and other countries have already taken people out.
"We have shown a great deal of movement," with six vessels ready to carry Canadians from the destruction in Lebanon to Cyprus, he tells The National's Peter Mansbridge.
MacKay says the Department of Foreign Affairs started looking for ships on July 14, two days after the militant group Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers. He says they found three by July 16 and six ships in total by July 17.
Foreign Affairs says the evacuations will likely take place at the port of Beirut. MacKay says he has been in contact with the Red Crescent to arrange safe passage for Canadians in Lebanon.
Meanwhile, Canadians in the strife-torn region say the government is not doing enough. CBC's Nahlah Ayed, who visited the Canadian Embassy in Beirut, says there has been no official information from the embassy on when or where the ships will dock. She says people were lining up trying to get information on how to get home.
MacKay says Foreign Affairs has made contact with more than 21,000 Canadians in Lebanon.
Other countries remove their nationals:
An Italian ship carrying more than 300 people arrives in Cyprus.
France rescues 1,000 people.
Nearly 1,000 people leave on a Swedish-chartered ship.
About 400 leave on a Greek frigate.
180 escape on a British warship.
900 german escape by bus to SyriaJuly 16, 2006:
Seven Canadians are killed, most of them members of an extended family from Montreal on vacation in the village of Aitaroun: Ali El-Akhras, Amira El-Akhras and her four children aged one, four, six and eight. Her husband, Ali, later dies from blast-related injuries.
Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay announces plans for evacuation of Canadian citizens from Lebanon.
While Canadians wait for more information about the evacuation, Foreign Affairs urges them to stay indoors, put their travel papers in order, be prepared with a maximum of 20 kilograms of luggage, and have medication for three days.
CBC STORY: Israeli air strike kills 7 Canadians in Lebanon (http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/07/16/lebanon-canadians.html)
When cross-border fighting put Canadian citizens in Lebanon in danger — and eight Canadians were killed by the blasts — Ottawa scrambled to find a way to get them out.
It is the largest-scale evacuation in Canadian history.
Here's how it's unfolding:
July 19, 2006:
The evacuation of Canadian citizens from Lebanon begins. Hundreds of Canadians gather at the port of Beirut to board ships chartered by the Canadian government. They wait for hours before the first ship starts taking passengers. The ship is expected to arrive in Cyprus by nighttime.
Ottawa has arranged for seven ships – six vessels will shuttle evacuees to Turkey and one ship is heading for Cyprus. From there, they are expected to board chartered flights for Canada, at Ottawa's expense.
http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/images/news/maps/2006/07/19/middleeast_evac_routes2.jpg Handfuls of Canadians say they're not waiting for Canada's evacuation plan; some of them have already boarded ships arranged by other countries and have arrived back in Canada.
CBC STORY: Exhausted Canadians spend hours waiting for ships in Beirut (http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2006/07/19/evacuation-ships.html)Prime Minister Stephen Harper announces during a news conference that he intends to fly from Paris to Cyprus in a government plane to help the evacuation. He says he will try to bring back as many as 120 Canadians. He was scheduled to head home to Canada after meeting with French President Jacques Chirac. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert assures Harper that officials will ensure safe passage of Canadians out of Lebanon.
CBC STORY: Harper to fly to Cyprus to help with evacuation (http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2006/07/19/harper-evacuation.html)Other countries also bring home their nationals:
More than 1,000 Americans leave Beirut's port sailing on an eight-deck cruise liner, the first mass evacuation of U.S. citizens. Four Chinook transport helicopters ferry 800 Americans from Beirut to Larnaca airport in Cyprus. Sea stallion choppers were used earlier in the week. U.S. Brig.-Gen. Carl Jensen estimates that 6,000 Americans will be evacuated from Lebanon by the weekend.
A Greek vessel leaves Beirut carrying as many as 500 Europeans. Denmark evacuates more than 4,000 of its citizens from the country. Six British ships, including two aircraft carriers, stand by to rescue Britons. A British ship reaches Cyprus with 180 people from Beirut. Prime Minister Tony Blair says about 5,000 of their nationals would be moved by the end of the week. French citizens board a ship at the port of Beirut. A second wave of French nationals arrives in a Paris airport from Cyprus.
July 18, 2006:
Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay says Canadians should be able to start leaving Lebanon on July 19. Canadian officials contact Canadian citizens in Lebanon, telling them when and where to meet one of the seven ships chartered by Ottawa, which can carry about 2,000 passengers a day. Ottawa is in talks with Israel and Lebanon to ease the passage of the evacuees.
Meanwhile, opposition leaders back at home criticize the government's evacuation plan. NDP Leader Jack Layton says, "The south is isolated. There doesn't seem to be a plan," for Canadians stranded there.
Harper says the evacuation is happening "extraordinarily quickly" under the circumstances. "Our officials have been in contact with literally thousands of people in Lebanon to prepare this and have lined up resources in several countries to make it possible," Harper says during a news conference in Paris with French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin.
CBC STORY: Evacuation of Canadians from Lebanon to start Wednesday (http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2006/07/18/evacuation-logistics.html)The U.S. ambassador pledges that by the end of the week, their evacuation would be escalated to 1,000 Americans a day.
July 17, 2006:
Harper says Canada expects to be able to move Canadians out by the middle of the week. Canada will send two commercial ships to collect Canadians who want out of the country. Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay later announces they have six ships ready.
MacKay insists the government is moving quickly to transport the 50,000 Canadians from Lebanon, even though the first evacuee will not leave until July 19, and other countries have already taken people out.
"We have shown a great deal of movement," with six vessels ready to carry Canadians from the destruction in Lebanon to Cyprus, he tells The National's Peter Mansbridge.
MacKay says the Department of Foreign Affairs started looking for ships on July 14, two days after the militant group Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers. He says they found three by July 16 and six ships in total by July 17.
Foreign Affairs says the evacuations will likely take place at the port of Beirut. MacKay says he has been in contact with the Red Crescent to arrange safe passage for Canadians in Lebanon.
Meanwhile, Canadians in the strife-torn region say the government is not doing enough. CBC's Nahlah Ayed, who visited the Canadian Embassy in Beirut, says there has been no official information from the embassy on when or where the ships will dock. She says people were lining up trying to get information on how to get home.
MacKay says Foreign Affairs has made contact with more than 21,000 Canadians in Lebanon.
Other countries remove their nationals:
An Italian ship carrying more than 300 people arrives in Cyprus.
France rescues 1,000 people.
Nearly 1,000 people leave on a Swedish-chartered ship.
About 400 leave on a Greek frigate.
180 escape on a British warship.
900 german escape by bus to SyriaJuly 16, 2006:
Seven Canadians are killed, most of them members of an extended family from Montreal on vacation in the village of Aitaroun: Ali El-Akhras, Amira El-Akhras and her four children aged one, four, six and eight. Her husband, Ali, later dies from blast-related injuries.
Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay announces plans for evacuation of Canadian citizens from Lebanon.
While Canadians wait for more information about the evacuation, Foreign Affairs urges them to stay indoors, put their travel papers in order, be prepared with a maximum of 20 kilograms of luggage, and have medication for three days.
CBC STORY: Israeli air strike kills 7 Canadians in Lebanon (http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/07/16/lebanon-canadians.html)