Long wait for thousands still stranded in Lebanon, Including Ethiopians
By David Clarke
BEIRUT (Reuters) - "One at a time, one at a time," screamed the guards at Sri Lanka's embassy in Beirut, shoving back crowds of people waving passports, desperate to get inside.
There are some 80,000 Sri Lankans working in Lebanon and thousands have descended on the small embassy a 20 minute drive from downtown Beirut, seeking help to flee Israel's bombs.
The mass evacuation of Western nationals is drawing to a close but tens of thousands of poor migrant workers are trapped in Lebanon. Some are frightened, some are simply homeless, having been deserted by their fleeing bosses.
The Sri Lankan community is the biggest and 98 percent work as maids for about $100 a month. There are some 30,000-40,000 Filipinos, up to 20,000 Ethiopians and 10,000 Bangladeshis.
Their embassies have limited resources and are being helped by the International Organization of Migration (IOM) and aid group Karitas. They are aiming to put the evacuees on buses to Syria, and then onto planes home.
"I'm leaving because I'm too afraid and a I have a small, three-year-old son in Sri Lanka," said Ganegamage Malkanthi, 24, standing next to her Lebanese employer who was helping get her application to leave processed.
Inside the embassy the corridors are clogged and scores of Sri Lankans crowd the few rooms, hunkered down, leaning on suitcases, sleeping sprawled on the floor in the sticky heat.
Amanul Farouque, Sri Lanka's ambassador to Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, is coordinating the evacuation, working round the clock with his staff of eight, calmly fielding call after call on his mobile and pleading his case to those who can help.
STRANDED AND HOMELESS
He says 500 Sri Lankans slept at the embassy on Monday night and another 300 were housed in Karitas shelters in Beirut. Farouque is just about managing to keep them fed but says the embassy keeps running out of water.
"People are pouring into the embassy in their hundreds, their thousands ... and we have limited resources," he said. "We hope that in the next three, four, five days the situation will even itself out."
Vincent Houver, IOM's head of operations for Beirut emergency activities, said he hoped to move 900 Sri Lankans out through Syria by Saturday. About 2,000 are registered to leave and many more queued on Tuesday to add their names to the lists.
Houver said many of the 3,000 Filipinos waiting to go were simply left on the street when their employers packed up and fled, so getting them home was a priority.
"The Westerners left so people are asking why can't we leave? Then some in a community get out so others decide to go," he said. "It's a snowball effect, a self-fulfilling prophecy."
Many Lebanese families depend on their Sri Lankan and Filipino staff to run their homes and look after their children.
Farouque worries some Sri Lankans are being prevented from leaving by employers keeping their passports. But he said the authorities were understanding, and if people turned up without their documents there was still a chance they could leave.
Nassif Freen, 36, a computer engineer in Beirut, was one of many Lebanese doing their utmost to help scared staff get out.
But one man at the embassy clearly had a different motive.
"Our girl left the house. So I came to the embassy to find her. I saw her, 10 metres away, but she ran away," said a Lebanese businessman who just called himself Said.
"I have her passport and her papers so I've come to see if she wants to leave -- or not. Why does she want to leave? She's happy," he said, as he pestered embassy officials, calling them "servants" under his breath.
Finally, one official reassured Said his maid needed her passport to leave Lebanon. So he headed home -- relieved.
By David Clarke
BEIRUT (Reuters) - "One at a time, one at a time," screamed the guards at Sri Lanka's embassy in Beirut, shoving back crowds of people waving passports, desperate to get inside.
There are some 80,000 Sri Lankans working in Lebanon and thousands have descended on the small embassy a 20 minute drive from downtown Beirut, seeking help to flee Israel's bombs.
The mass evacuation of Western nationals is drawing to a close but tens of thousands of poor migrant workers are trapped in Lebanon. Some are frightened, some are simply homeless, having been deserted by their fleeing bosses.
The Sri Lankan community is the biggest and 98 percent work as maids for about $100 a month. There are some 30,000-40,000 Filipinos, up to 20,000 Ethiopians and 10,000 Bangladeshis.
Their embassies have limited resources and are being helped by the International Organization of Migration (IOM) and aid group Karitas. They are aiming to put the evacuees on buses to Syria, and then onto planes home.
"I'm leaving because I'm too afraid and a I have a small, three-year-old son in Sri Lanka," said Ganegamage Malkanthi, 24, standing next to her Lebanese employer who was helping get her application to leave processed.
Inside the embassy the corridors are clogged and scores of Sri Lankans crowd the few rooms, hunkered down, leaning on suitcases, sleeping sprawled on the floor in the sticky heat.
Amanul Farouque, Sri Lanka's ambassador to Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, is coordinating the evacuation, working round the clock with his staff of eight, calmly fielding call after call on his mobile and pleading his case to those who can help.
STRANDED AND HOMELESS
He says 500 Sri Lankans slept at the embassy on Monday night and another 300 were housed in Karitas shelters in Beirut. Farouque is just about managing to keep them fed but says the embassy keeps running out of water.
"People are pouring into the embassy in their hundreds, their thousands ... and we have limited resources," he said. "We hope that in the next three, four, five days the situation will even itself out."
Vincent Houver, IOM's head of operations for Beirut emergency activities, said he hoped to move 900 Sri Lankans out through Syria by Saturday. About 2,000 are registered to leave and many more queued on Tuesday to add their names to the lists.
Houver said many of the 3,000 Filipinos waiting to go were simply left on the street when their employers packed up and fled, so getting them home was a priority.
"The Westerners left so people are asking why can't we leave? Then some in a community get out so others decide to go," he said. "It's a snowball effect, a self-fulfilling prophecy."
Many Lebanese families depend on their Sri Lankan and Filipino staff to run their homes and look after their children.
Farouque worries some Sri Lankans are being prevented from leaving by employers keeping their passports. But he said the authorities were understanding, and if people turned up without their documents there was still a chance they could leave.
Nassif Freen, 36, a computer engineer in Beirut, was one of many Lebanese doing their utmost to help scared staff get out.
But one man at the embassy clearly had a different motive.
"Our girl left the house. So I came to the embassy to find her. I saw her, 10 metres away, but she ran away," said a Lebanese businessman who just called himself Said.
"I have her passport and her papers so I've come to see if she wants to leave -- or not. Why does she want to leave? She's happy," he said, as he pestered embassy officials, calling them "servants" under his breath.
Finally, one official reassured Said his maid needed her passport to leave Lebanon. So he headed home -- relieved.
BEIRUT (Reuters) - "One at a time, one at a time," screamed the guards at Sri Lanka's embassy in Beirut, shoving back crowds of people waving passports, desperate to get inside.
There are some 80,000 Sri Lankans working in Lebanon and thousands have descended on the small embassy a 20 minute drive from downtown Beirut, seeking help to flee Israel's bombs.
The mass evacuation of Western nationals is drawing to a close but tens of thousands of poor migrant workers are trapped in Lebanon. Some are frightened, some are simply homeless, having been deserted by their fleeing bosses.
The Sri Lankan community is the biggest and 98 percent work as maids for about $100 a month. There are some 30,000-40,000 Filipinos, up to 20,000 Ethiopians and 10,000 Bangladeshis.
Their embassies have limited resources and are being helped by the International Organization of Migration (IOM) and aid group Karitas. They are aiming to put the evacuees on buses to Syria, and then onto planes home.
"I'm leaving because I'm too afraid and a I have a small, three-year-old son in Sri Lanka," said Ganegamage Malkanthi, 24, standing next to her Lebanese employer who was helping get her application to leave processed.
Inside the embassy the corridors are clogged and scores of Sri Lankans crowd the few rooms, hunkered down, leaning on suitcases, sleeping sprawled on the floor in the sticky heat.
Amanul Farouque, Sri Lanka's ambassador to Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, is coordinating the evacuation, working round the clock with his staff of eight, calmly fielding call after call on his mobile and pleading his case to those who can help.
STRANDED AND HOMELESS
He says 500 Sri Lankans slept at the embassy on Monday night and another 300 were housed in Karitas shelters in Beirut. Farouque is just about managing to keep them fed but says the embassy keeps running out of water.
"People are pouring into the embassy in their hundreds, their thousands ... and we have limited resources," he said. "We hope that in the next three, four, five days the situation will even itself out."
Vincent Houver, IOM's head of operations for Beirut emergency activities, said he hoped to move 900 Sri Lankans out through Syria by Saturday. About 2,000 are registered to leave and many more queued on Tuesday to add their names to the lists.
Houver said many of the 3,000 Filipinos waiting to go were simply left on the street when their employers packed up and fled, so getting them home was a priority.
"The Westerners left so people are asking why can't we leave? Then some in a community get out so others decide to go," he said. "It's a snowball effect, a self-fulfilling prophecy."
Many Lebanese families depend on their Sri Lankan and Filipino staff to run their homes and look after their children.
Farouque worries some Sri Lankans are being prevented from leaving by employers keeping their passports. But he said the authorities were understanding, and if people turned up without their documents there was still a chance they could leave.
Nassif Freen, 36, a computer engineer in Beirut, was one of many Lebanese doing their utmost to help scared staff get out.
But one man at the embassy clearly had a different motive.
"Our girl left the house. So I came to the embassy to find her. I saw her, 10 metres away, but she ran away," said a Lebanese businessman who just called himself Said.
"I have her passport and her papers so I've come to see if she wants to leave -- or not. Why does she want to leave? She's happy," he said, as he pestered embassy officials, calling them "servants" under his breath.
Finally, one official reassured Said his maid needed her passport to leave Lebanon. So he headed home -- relieved.
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