Efforts to bring Finns back from Lebanon continue

Press Release 252/2006
July 18, 2006

The Finns returning from Lebanon were received by The Finnish Red Cross at Helsinki-Vantaa airport (Photo: Lehtikuva) Finland has continued its efforts to bring back home those Finns that have expressed their willingness to return to Finland. The first 19 Finns returned to Helsinki on Tuesday evening by flight from Damascus, via Copenhagen. About 25 Finns were able to leave Beirut early Tuesday evening on board a Norwegian ship. The ship arrived at the harbour of Larnaca on Cyprus early on Wednesday morning. The night between Wednesday and Thursday 18 of them arrived in Helsinki. Some Finns remained in Cyprus.

During the end of the week, the evacuation efforts will focus on foreign citizens located in South Lebanon, with about 25 Finns among them. The Union members are joining their forces in order to have the EU citizens removed from the area. At the political level, the talks with Israel and Lebanon will continue in different ways. EU High Representative and Secretary-General of the Council Javier Solana has travelled to Middle East in order to engage in discussions with the parties aimed at finding solutions, for instance, to the question of how to return the EU citizens in South Lebanon to their home countries.

There have been approximately 100-120 Finns residing in Lebanon on a permanent basis, and about 40 temporary travellers. About 50 of them have left Lebanon to date.

People are kindly requested to direct their inquiries concerning the return of Finns to the Finland's Ambassador in Syria Pertti Harvola, tel. 963 94 262 736.

For additional information in Finland contact: as concerns the general situation, Deputy Director General Christian Sundgren, Department for Communications and Culture, gsm +358 40 546 0426, as concerns consular questions, Director General Irma Ertman, Legal Department, tel. +358 9 1605 5700, and Director Pekka Hyvönen, Unit for Consular Services, tel. +358 9 1605 5739