Relatives of Lebanese Stranded in Abidjan Rally at Foreign Ministry in Beirut
Relatives of Lebanese expatriates stranded in civil war-torn Ivory Coast staged a sit-in Sunday in front of Lebanon's foreign ministry in Beirut, demanding a solution to the humanitarian crisis.
A number of expats who had managed to return to Lebanon also took part in the sit-in.
Caretaker Foreign Minister Ali Shami met with a number of protesters who conveyed to him the expats' demands for the Lebanese authorities to provide ships to evacuate them from Abidjan to the Ghanaian capital Accra.
Shami promised the protesters that he would make the necessary contacts with the officials concerned and give an answer "within two days."
"Lebanese Ambassador to Abidjan Ali Ajami informed us that a French military aircraft evacuated 27 Lebanese expats to D.R. Congo and Senegal," Shami told NBN television later Sunday.
"Ajami conducted the necessary contacts and a new batch of Lebanese expats will be evacuated tomorrow," he added.
Earlier, Ajami revealed that French troops have begun scheduling patrols at intermittent periods at the entrances of neighborhoods heavily populated with foreigners, especially Lebanese, in areas of the Ivory Coast.
He told Al-Mustqabal daily in remarks published on Sunday that the Lebanese officials' contacts to France should be credited with this new development.
He added that the French consulate in the Ivory Coast informed him that the French military base in Abidjan airport has been packed with some 1,000 foreigners, half of whom are Lebanese.
"Even though Abidjan airport has not been shut down, flights to Beirut are impossible because the airport road is unsafe as snipers are spread across nearby buildings and they are targeting passing cars," he added.
The ambassador said that airport general manager had informed the embassy that any plane landing in the airport will be held accountable for its own action because the airport personnel have left the facility, "which is why we requested that MEA indefinitely cancel its flights to Beirut," he said.
A Middle East Airlines flight that was scheduled to evacuate Lebanese from conflict-torn Ivory Coast on Saturday morning was cancelled again as the president and the caretaker prime minister made calls to protect Lebanese citizens there.
The MEA flight might head to Abidjan on Sunday, media reports said after authorities in the African country closed air traffic.
A Baabda palace press release said President Michel Suleiman made telephone conversations with leaders of influential countries, mainly France, to guarantee a safe exit for the Lebanese.
Caretaker Premier Saad Hariri also telephoned his French counterpart and the foreign minister on Saturday to ask for assistance for the Lebanese expatriates.
A statement released by his press office said that the number of Lebanese under the protection of the French troops there has reached 900.
He also telephoned internationally recognized president Alassane Outtara, discussing with him the issue of the protection of the Lebanese citizens living in the Ivory Coast.
Ouattara promised Hariri to take all possible measures to protect and assist them.
Troops loyal to Ouattara, who has been unable to take office since a November election, swept through the country this week, arriving in Abidjan on Thursday in what was said to be the final assault on cornered strongman Laurent Gbagbo's fighters.
A high-ranking official at the foreign ministry in Beirut said the Lebanese community was not being singled out for acts of violence, amid reports of looting and chaos in Abidjan. "The targets of the looting are not only Lebanese but also Ivorian," the director general of the foreign ministry, Haitham Joumaa, told The Daily Star in remarks published Saturday.
"Looting and lawlessness has swept through the Ivorian cities but there is no specific danger to the Lebanese community," Joumaa added, in response to reports that the Lebanese expatriates were falling victim to looting and other crimes.
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