i: The situation is getting overwhelming here in Cyprus and all citizens are called to provide assistance. Tomorrow, wearing the Civil Defence outfit, we'll be in Larnaca's airport. On Monday we were at the State Fair (referred to below) helping with unloading touthpastes, pampers and other daily necessities we collected. We didn't stay long, because the US embassy people are already there having control and a lot of personnel to assist with the situation. Few boys playing football told me that they had to stay in Cyprus until their mother got a US visa, for which she had to wait in line at the US embassy for hours. The boys said they were Lebanese, but born in the US, so they had US passports. Most people don't know when they will be living. A man holding a baby infant asked us for the number of a nearby hotel. He wanted to take proper shower and sleep properly. He said the child had not slept since they left Lebanon, 3 days ago. His wife was at the time in line outside the US embassy for a visa.
http://www.cyprusweekly.com.cy/default.aspx?FrontPageNewsID=304_5
Americans evacuees camp out at State Fair
By Charlie Charalambous
Army blankets, a sea of orange camp beds and plain clothes US marines patrolling the area. This is not a detention facility but an unlikely transit camp in the heart of Nicosia, established to process thousands of Americans fleeing bomb-ravaged Lebanon.
Entering the building, two adjoining fully air-conditioned exhibition areas, there is a buzz of activity with families chatting, kids playing with donated toys or watching cartoons on TV.
Some were visibly exhausted by their exit ordeal while others appeared full of energy despite their 30-hour odyssey from the ruins of Beirut.
The fact that hostilities dividing the Middle East has touched ordinary Americans on vacation was still hard to fathom for some.
"You see these situations on TV and feel for sorry for the people. Now we are the ones that feel like refugees," said mother of two young children Brenda Fawaz, 41, from Tampa Florida.
"My children were so scared we stayed inside most of the time. In America you don't see things like that," she added.
The US has established a makeshift transit camp to handle an estimated 6,000 American nationals expected to arrive on Cyprus in the coming days after fleeing Lebanon.
The US embassy in Nicosia has rented 2,000 square metres of empty exhibition space in the capital's State Fair grounds. There are some 700 people being catered for in the 1,000-bed capacity facility inside the securely guarded Cyprus State Fair grounds.
Most of those being temporarily housed were happy with the facilities and they were well looked after and well fed. There were gripes about the chaotic arrangements to get people on charter flights to the US but most were resigned that the elderly and women with young children should leave first.
"We have to be understanding and try and have a little heart for those with young children," said Gloria Mansouraty, 56, travelling with her 21-year-old son Gabriel, from El Paso, Texas.
"People are losing their lives in Lebanon, it's a horrific experience," she added.
Her son was on his first ever visit to Lebanon.
Scary
"I've never ever seen a bomb or artillery shell being dropped before, it was pretty scary but I had to stay calm."
Cyprus is struggling to accommodate the thousands of foreigners passing through at the peak of its holiday season as the island suddenly finds itself the main transit point for those fleeing Israel's bombardment of Lebanon.
Hala Hakim, from Memphis Tennessee, is convinced the war will go on for a "long time" and lamented that "half of Beirut is already bombed".
"I feel like the Iraqi people," she quipped about her predicament and having to ensure her two young children were safe.
The 33-year-old mother tried to put a brave face on her surroundings after almost 48-hours free of sleep and high on stress.
"They (American authorities) are doing their best but it's no fun being in the same room as 500 people."
He said there was no specification on the length of time the Americans would rent the centre for.
Camp beds and other facilities have been prepared in expectation of a large influx of Americans.
Many were happy to grin and bear it, knowing they would not be homeless for very long but any lengthy stay would soon change the atmosphere of hope and relief. However, the Americans insist that the turnaround will be quick and time spent at the centre will be brief.
More than 2,200 American evacuees are due to arrive on Cyprus early Friday when the USS Nashville and cruise ship Orient Queen dock in Larnaca.
California teenager Catherine Saideh is looking forward to "sleep and a shower" as soon as she returns to the West Coast.
"It's the most scared I've ever been. We could hear the planes going over and we were praying 'please don't drop it here'.
Catherine, 18, travelling with her mother and two sisters, said the family were becoming anxious as information from the embassy in Beirut was slow at best.
"We got on a list because my dad got us on in the states," said Catherine.
"Italy went and got their people out, France went out and the US was telling us to watch the internet which wasn't working."
Her sister Carol, 19, agreed.
"Nobody knew what was going on. We thought we'd be stuck there for a year."
Charter flights
The US embassy is making arrangements to ensure that those who want to leave immediately will be able to fly out as soon as possible, although processing such large numbers is expected to take time. A series of charter flights are being laid on and estimates of Americans, there are 20,000 in Lebanon, wanting to leave Beirut are growing by the day.
Some evacuees have made their own flight and accommodation arrangements but the vast majority are being dealt with by reinforced embassy staff, handling one of the largest voluntary military evacuations of Americans in decades.
An estimated 12,000 evacuees have already coming through the tiny holiday island over the, putting accommodation and flights at a premium.
i: yes, we are helping complainers here in Cyprus. And we can't put old conflicts on the side (see bolded below) and realize that this is NOT about us:
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/
Cyprus still waiting for help
By Constantine Markides
WHILE NO countries have been short on thanks to Cyprus for its participation in the mass evacuation effort of nationals out of Lebanon, there has been only a limited response until now to Cyprus' plea for additional planes and to the opening of other countries' borders to refugees.
Barely 200 kilometres by sea from Lebanon, Cyprus has become the central hub for the evacuation effort, with both Limassol and Larnaca ports daily admitting thousands of people seeking to flee embattled Lebanon.
The Cyprus government last week requested other EU countries to open their borders to evacuees from Lebanon, as well as to send aircraft to Cyprus so that their nationals can immediately depart upon arrival.
"Given our limited capabilities, we have exceeded ourselves," said President Tassos Papadopoulos. "We are on Europe's borders. This is not a Cypriot problem but a European one, so we are expecting a response."
Finland yesterday responded positively to the request, announcing that it will contribute 200,000 euros for a transport operation.
Turkey has also offered to serve as a transit point for evacuees, which has helped to lighten the load on Cyprus.
Yesterday morning 1,080 Australians, 480 Canadians and 232 Swedes docked in the southern port of Mersin, while a ferryboat carrying 1,200 Turkish citizens was also expected.
According to statements yesterday by the governor of Mersin, over 3,000 foreign nationals have arrived at the port since July 19. The governor said that 1,541 Canadians, 499 Swedes, 706 Australians, 37 Americans, three Russians, two Germans, two Frenchmen and 244 citizens of other countries have already departed to their home countries via Mersin.
But with cues at the airports recently spilling out of the airport doors, Cyprus has still not received the response it hoped for.
"The aid from EU member-states is not yet what we have expected it to be," said Communications and Works Minister Harris Thrassou, who characterised the situation as "extremely difficult", especially at Larnaca airport.
EU Environment Commissioner Stravros Demas is set to travel to Cyprus tomorrow as part of a team of EU specialists to assess the situation and help coordinate the evacuation effort.
Acting DIKO leader Nicos Kleanthous said that, excepting Finland, which resides over the EU Presidency, no other EU country has responded to its request for support from its member states. Cleanthous made no reference to Turkey's opening of its borders to evacuees.
French Defence Minister Alliot-Marie arrived in Cyprus on Sunday bringing a message from French President Jacques Chirac to Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos expressing his gratitude the Cyprus government and people for their assistance in evacuating EU citizens out of Lebanon.
i: and "celebrities" coming to Cyprus, singing the same old song:
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/
Rice stops over in Cyprus en route to Middle East
By Leo Leonidou
U.S. SECRETARY of State Condoleezza Rice stopped over at Larnaca Airport yesterday, on her way to the Middle East for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
Twenty minutes after she arrived on the island from Ireland at 12.28pm, she left on an American military helicopter accompanied by another two choppers.
She left Cyprus at 12.48pm after a short discussion with Foreign Minister George Lillikas on her airplane.
They then departed to an unknown destination, with the American authorities not revealing whether they were leaving for Lebanon or Israel. Civil Aviation officials said they did not know where the helicopters were heading for security reasons, but state radio later announced that Rice had landed in Beirut.
She was due to fly to Israel for talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, before discussing the Lebanon crisis with European and Arab officials in Rome tomorrow.
"It is very important to establish conditions under which a ceasefire can take place. We believe that a ceasefire is urgent," Rice said during her visit.
"It is important to have conditions that will make it also sustainable," she told reporters.
Nearly two weeks into the conflict, Washington has finally bowed to international pressure to take a more active role in the search for a diplomatic solution to the war.
[i: ?????? :o i ought to promote Political Ponerology more in Cyprus. Wishful thinking, comforting thinking is very popular]
Rice left the US capital on Sunday amid increasing condemnation from the UN and Britain over the scale of the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon. Criticism is likely to mount after the US was forced to admit that it was expediting the delivery of 5,000lb laser-guided 'bunker buster' bombs to Israel under an agreement reached between the two countries last year.
With the US ruling out direct talks with Syria and Hezbollah and with Arab allies refusing to host the emergency meeting because of the White House's rejection of an immediate ceasefire, Rice arrives in the region at a time of intense distrust of American motives.
She is almost wholly reliant on Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan to pressure Damascus into disarming Hezbollah.
As she left Rice said that there was "no quick fix" and that diplomacy would be difficult.
http://www.cyprusweekly.com.cy/default.aspx?FrontPageNewsID=304_5
Americans evacuees camp out at State Fair
By Charlie Charalambous
Army blankets, a sea of orange camp beds and plain clothes US marines patrolling the area. This is not a detention facility but an unlikely transit camp in the heart of Nicosia, established to process thousands of Americans fleeing bomb-ravaged Lebanon.
Entering the building, two adjoining fully air-conditioned exhibition areas, there is a buzz of activity with families chatting, kids playing with donated toys or watching cartoons on TV.
Some were visibly exhausted by their exit ordeal while others appeared full of energy despite their 30-hour odyssey from the ruins of Beirut.
The fact that hostilities dividing the Middle East has touched ordinary Americans on vacation was still hard to fathom for some.
"You see these situations on TV and feel for sorry for the people. Now we are the ones that feel like refugees," said mother of two young children Brenda Fawaz, 41, from Tampa Florida.
"My children were so scared we stayed inside most of the time. In America you don't see things like that," she added.
The US has established a makeshift transit camp to handle an estimated 6,000 American nationals expected to arrive on Cyprus in the coming days after fleeing Lebanon.
The US embassy in Nicosia has rented 2,000 square metres of empty exhibition space in the capital's State Fair grounds. There are some 700 people being catered for in the 1,000-bed capacity facility inside the securely guarded Cyprus State Fair grounds.
Most of those being temporarily housed were happy with the facilities and they were well looked after and well fed. There were gripes about the chaotic arrangements to get people on charter flights to the US but most were resigned that the elderly and women with young children should leave first.
"We have to be understanding and try and have a little heart for those with young children," said Gloria Mansouraty, 56, travelling with her 21-year-old son Gabriel, from El Paso, Texas.
"People are losing their lives in Lebanon, it's a horrific experience," she added.
Her son was on his first ever visit to Lebanon.
Scary
"I've never ever seen a bomb or artillery shell being dropped before, it was pretty scary but I had to stay calm."
Cyprus is struggling to accommodate the thousands of foreigners passing through at the peak of its holiday season as the island suddenly finds itself the main transit point for those fleeing Israel's bombardment of Lebanon.
Hala Hakim, from Memphis Tennessee, is convinced the war will go on for a "long time" and lamented that "half of Beirut is already bombed".
"I feel like the Iraqi people," she quipped about her predicament and having to ensure her two young children were safe.
The 33-year-old mother tried to put a brave face on her surroundings after almost 48-hours free of sleep and high on stress.
"They (American authorities) are doing their best but it's no fun being in the same room as 500 people."
He said there was no specification on the length of time the Americans would rent the centre for.
Camp beds and other facilities have been prepared in expectation of a large influx of Americans.
Many were happy to grin and bear it, knowing they would not be homeless for very long but any lengthy stay would soon change the atmosphere of hope and relief. However, the Americans insist that the turnaround will be quick and time spent at the centre will be brief.
More than 2,200 American evacuees are due to arrive on Cyprus early Friday when the USS Nashville and cruise ship Orient Queen dock in Larnaca.
California teenager Catherine Saideh is looking forward to "sleep and a shower" as soon as she returns to the West Coast.
"It's the most scared I've ever been. We could hear the planes going over and we were praying 'please don't drop it here'.
Catherine, 18, travelling with her mother and two sisters, said the family were becoming anxious as information from the embassy in Beirut was slow at best.
"We got on a list because my dad got us on in the states," said Catherine.
"Italy went and got their people out, France went out and the US was telling us to watch the internet which wasn't working."
Her sister Carol, 19, agreed.
"Nobody knew what was going on. We thought we'd be stuck there for a year."
Charter flights
The US embassy is making arrangements to ensure that those who want to leave immediately will be able to fly out as soon as possible, although processing such large numbers is expected to take time. A series of charter flights are being laid on and estimates of Americans, there are 20,000 in Lebanon, wanting to leave Beirut are growing by the day.
Some evacuees have made their own flight and accommodation arrangements but the vast majority are being dealt with by reinforced embassy staff, handling one of the largest voluntary military evacuations of Americans in decades.
An estimated 12,000 evacuees have already coming through the tiny holiday island over the, putting accommodation and flights at a premium.
i: yes, we are helping complainers here in Cyprus. And we can't put old conflicts on the side (see bolded below) and realize that this is NOT about us:
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/
Cyprus still waiting for help
By Constantine Markides
WHILE NO countries have been short on thanks to Cyprus for its participation in the mass evacuation effort of nationals out of Lebanon, there has been only a limited response until now to Cyprus' plea for additional planes and to the opening of other countries' borders to refugees.
Barely 200 kilometres by sea from Lebanon, Cyprus has become the central hub for the evacuation effort, with both Limassol and Larnaca ports daily admitting thousands of people seeking to flee embattled Lebanon.
The Cyprus government last week requested other EU countries to open their borders to evacuees from Lebanon, as well as to send aircraft to Cyprus so that their nationals can immediately depart upon arrival.
"Given our limited capabilities, we have exceeded ourselves," said President Tassos Papadopoulos. "We are on Europe's borders. This is not a Cypriot problem but a European one, so we are expecting a response."
Finland yesterday responded positively to the request, announcing that it will contribute 200,000 euros for a transport operation.
Turkey has also offered to serve as a transit point for evacuees, which has helped to lighten the load on Cyprus.
Yesterday morning 1,080 Australians, 480 Canadians and 232 Swedes docked in the southern port of Mersin, while a ferryboat carrying 1,200 Turkish citizens was also expected.
According to statements yesterday by the governor of Mersin, over 3,000 foreign nationals have arrived at the port since July 19. The governor said that 1,541 Canadians, 499 Swedes, 706 Australians, 37 Americans, three Russians, two Germans, two Frenchmen and 244 citizens of other countries have already departed to their home countries via Mersin.
But with cues at the airports recently spilling out of the airport doors, Cyprus has still not received the response it hoped for.
"The aid from EU member-states is not yet what we have expected it to be," said Communications and Works Minister Harris Thrassou, who characterised the situation as "extremely difficult", especially at Larnaca airport.
EU Environment Commissioner Stravros Demas is set to travel to Cyprus tomorrow as part of a team of EU specialists to assess the situation and help coordinate the evacuation effort.
Acting DIKO leader Nicos Kleanthous said that, excepting Finland, which resides over the EU Presidency, no other EU country has responded to its request for support from its member states. Cleanthous made no reference to Turkey's opening of its borders to evacuees.
French Defence Minister Alliot-Marie arrived in Cyprus on Sunday bringing a message from French President Jacques Chirac to Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos expressing his gratitude the Cyprus government and people for their assistance in evacuating EU citizens out of Lebanon.
i: and "celebrities" coming to Cyprus, singing the same old song:
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/
Rice stops over in Cyprus en route to Middle East
By Leo Leonidou
U.S. SECRETARY of State Condoleezza Rice stopped over at Larnaca Airport yesterday, on her way to the Middle East for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
Twenty minutes after she arrived on the island from Ireland at 12.28pm, she left on an American military helicopter accompanied by another two choppers.
She left Cyprus at 12.48pm after a short discussion with Foreign Minister George Lillikas on her airplane.
They then departed to an unknown destination, with the American authorities not revealing whether they were leaving for Lebanon or Israel. Civil Aviation officials said they did not know where the helicopters were heading for security reasons, but state radio later announced that Rice had landed in Beirut.
She was due to fly to Israel for talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, before discussing the Lebanon crisis with European and Arab officials in Rome tomorrow.
"It is very important to establish conditions under which a ceasefire can take place. We believe that a ceasefire is urgent," Rice said during her visit.
"It is important to have conditions that will make it also sustainable," she told reporters.
Nearly two weeks into the conflict, Washington has finally bowed to international pressure to take a more active role in the search for a diplomatic solution to the war.
[i: ?????? :o i ought to promote Political Ponerology more in Cyprus. Wishful thinking, comforting thinking is very popular]
Rice left the US capital on Sunday amid increasing condemnation from the UN and Britain over the scale of the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon. Criticism is likely to mount after the US was forced to admit that it was expediting the delivery of 5,000lb laser-guided 'bunker buster' bombs to Israel under an agreement reached between the two countries last year.
With the US ruling out direct talks with Syria and Hezbollah and with Arab allies refusing to host the emergency meeting because of the White House's rejection of an immediate ceasefire, Rice arrives in the region at a time of intense distrust of American motives.
She is almost wholly reliant on Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan to pressure Damascus into disarming Hezbollah.
As she left Rice said that there was "no quick fix" and that diplomacy would be difficult.
