Maltese in Beirut await evacuation

At least three Maltese nationals are known to have contacted the British Embassy in Beirut hoping to be evacuated from Lebanon by Royal Navy vessels being sent to the region to get Britons out of the country.

No Maltese are known to have been injured in Beirut, but Fr Oliver Borg Olivier, who has been in Lebanon for seven years, has had a very close shave with shells exploding and demolishing a building he had just driven past.

In a telephone interview, Fr Borg Olivier said: "I went to get some friends from the southern part of Beirut to get them out of the hell they have been living in and offer them some food and respite.

As I was driving we saw a building we had just drove past go up in smoke and flames before crashing down. Had we been a few seconds late, we would have been caught in the middle of the explosion," he said.

Fr Borg Olivier, who has been in the region for the past 32 years, said people should pray for those in Beirut as they were again facing tough times.

"They have just emerged from a civil war that lasted 20 years and they are caught in the grip of war again. The east side of Beirut, where I am, is not that bad. There were only six raids yesterday, which is not bad compared to the incessant shelling we had over the past weeks. I can see smoke billowing from the airport, which is just 10 kilometres away and the port, which was heavily bombed, is only one kilometre away. You can see demolished bridges all around. I doubt there are two or three bridges left in Beirut," he said.

There are three Maltese Jesuits in Beirut. Fr Borg Olivier and Fr Michael Zammit Mangion have decided to stay for the moment, but Fr Joseph Buhagiar Bianco has contacted the British Embassy and is trying to come to Malta.

"A Lebanese woman married to a Maltese called me and said she had phoned the British Embassy to be evacuated. They came on holiday to see her family and got caught up in the fighting. A family of 12 Canadians of Lebanese origin who came on holiday fared really badly. Eight of them got killed and four were badly injured when their house was hit by a bomb. Many children have been hit as well," he said.

"Hizbollah are very close to the airport in the southern part. The Israelis have practically razed it to the ground with systematic bombings. They are issuing warnings for people to leave villages in the south and there is a mass exodus of people. Some fled to Syria, others came to Beirut and the surrounding areas," Fr Borg Olivier said.

Britain is sending several warships to evacuate Britons while France and Italy have already moved 1,600 Europeans by ship to Cyprus.

Meanwhile, the Maltese and Gozitan Bishops have urged Catholics to answer a call by Pope Benedict XVI and pray for peace in the Holy Land and in the Middle East in view of the sad developments in the region.

The Curia said the Pope had invited prayers so that the political leaders would seek new possibilities for dialogue and agreement.

Calls on CoE to intervene

Labour foreign affairs spokesman Leo Brincat, in his capacity as rapporteur of the Council of Europe on relations with Lebanon, has called on the presidency of the Parliamentary Assembly to initiate a formal or informal diplomatic initiative in order to try to solve the current issue.

In a letter sent to assembly president René Van Der Linden, Mr Brincat said it would be deeply appreciated if the presidency would also publicly express its concern about the evolving situation while calling for an immediate ceasefire, restraint in the use of force and the protection of civilians caught in the conflict.