Lebanon stops emergency repatriation

Manjula Fernando

COLOMBO: The Lebanese Government has stopped the diplomatic emergency evacuation passage which issued instant travel papers for foreigners to flee Lebanon at the height of violence.

After declaring a ceasefire, the Government has stopped extending this blanket approval given for foreigners.

Sri Lankans who want to come back will have to go through the lengthy regular process, in the future.

“The Lebanese Government did not extend the blanket approval given for emergency evacuation. Therefore, in future we will have to revert to our regular process to repatriate foreign employees,” Foreign Employment Bureau Chairman Jagath Wellawatte said.

Wellawatte however said this will not have any major effect since many of the stranded returners have come down by yesterday.

The Government will repatriate the last batch of stranded migrant workers by this weekend.

“They are at the moment sheltered in Damascus, waiting for a chartered flight,” he said adding that this group is expected in Colombo by Friday or Monday.

These 130 returners left Beirut on August 21 and are now staying in Damascus, after being transported from our Beirut mission via land. Over 6,000 people have been evacuated from Lebanon after the war broke out in this popular foreign employment destination.

They were the last batch of workers who sought shelter in the mission, when the war broke out, hoping to get back unharmed. “Now there is no one at the Beirut mission,” Wellawatte said adding that since the violence has stopped no one was willing to desert their lucrative jobs.

“Even the workers who came to Syria wanted to go back when they heard about the ceasefire.”