Canadian PM flies to Cyprus to help evacuate nationals
Wed Jul 19, 12:48 PM ET
PARIS (AFP) - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is headed to Cyprus, where thousands of Lebanese-Canadians fleeing violence in Lebanon will arrive soon, he said in Paris.
He was due to land in Cyprus later in the day to pick up his nationals who are being taken by sea from Lebanon, officials said.
"The prime minister is expected to arrive at 11:00pm local time (2000GMT) at Larnaca airport and stay overnight," a Canadian diplomatic source in Nicosia told AFP.
He was expected to arrive on a Canadian Forces Airbus to pick an unspecified number of Canadians evacuated from Lebanon.
A Canadian-chartered ferry, Blue Dawn, was expected to dock at Larnaca port at around 6.30am (0330GMT) Thursday, although because of sea traffic out of Lebanon arrival times are frequently changing, according to consular officials.
"I was originally scheduled to return to Ottawa from Paris tonight. Because of the seriousness of the situation and our relative proximity to Cyprus, I've decided to take the Canadian Forces aircraft we've been travelling on to help airlift evacuees back home," Harper told reporters.
The jet will have a skeleton crew to free up about 120 seats for evacuees, he said.
"This action in and of itself will not resolve the many challenges faced by the thousands of Canadians who may want to leave Lebanon. But it allows us to do what we can with what we have to ensure the safe and secure return of Canadians."
Hundreds of Canadians desperate to get out of Lebanon mobbed the gates of a Beirut exhibition centre being used as an evacuation staging area Wednesday, furious at the slow pace of their rescue.
Some 40,000 to 50,000 Canadians live in Lebanon, of whom at least 8,000 are believed to want to escape the week-old bombardment launched after the capture of two Israeli soldiers.
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Now, this is what I call leadership.
