Athens News Agency: News in English, 06-07-20

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Greece sends aid to Lebanon, continues evacuations

[02] Papandreou: Cyprus issue an international problem

[01] Greece sends aid to Lebanon, continues evacuations

A military C-130 cargo plane that left Athens at 10:15 that morning with the first dispatch of humanitarian aid for Lebanon has already landed at Cyprus' Larnaca airport, Deputy Foreign Minister Evripidis Stylianidis announced on Thursday afternoon.

The aid will be transferred to a Greek tank-landing vessel docked at Larnaca port to be shipped to Beirut, while the C-130 is scheduled to return to Greece at 16:30 carrying 60 Greek citizens and Deputy Foreign Minister Theodoros Kassimis.

The aid consigment includes nine tonnes of medical supplies, bedding and tents requested by the Lebanese government from the European Union.

Stylianidis stressed that the foreign ministry had sped to meet the Lebanese request as soon as this was passed on to the EU member-states.

"Hellenic Aid mobilised all the NGOs involved in humanitarian aid and the appropriate ministries," he noted, while thanking the three aid organisations - the Red Cross, Medecins du Monde and Doctors of the Heart - for their immediate response.

The minister also conveyed his thanks to the Greek health ministry, which had supplied 20,000 doses of antibiotics, the defence ministry for providing the plane and the Athens municipality for arranging transportation of the aid consignment to Elefsina military airport.

The medical supplies also include blood plasma, IV drips, catheters, sedatives and anti-diarrhoea medication, according to Olga Dalikarou from the health ministry's National Centre for Health Operations.

A representative of Medecins du Monde, meanwhile, reported that the first shortages in medical supplies and hospitals were becoming apparent in Lebanon. He said the first five doctors sent by the organisation were leaving for Damascus on Friday, from where they would try to enter Lebanon and get as near the war zone as possible.

Stylianidis was at the military airport in Elefsis to see off the plane in the morning, along with foreign ministry general secretary Theodoros Skylakakis, officials from the other ministries involved, representatives of the foreign ministry humanitarian relief organisation Hellenic Aid, which is coordinating the collection and dispatch of the aid consignment, and of the three non-governmental aid organisations taking part in the mission.

Meanwhile, a second dispatch of aid is being prepared to be sent in a Greek Airforce plane within the next few hours, to be followed by others in a wide-scale operation organised by the foreign ministry in cooperation with the national defence ministry.

Asked how the safe delivery of the aid will be ensured, a senior Airforce officer at Elefsis said the Greek Navy vessels carrying aid would enter Beirut port at a time when there was no danger of bombardment.

The first aid consignment consisted of:

Two tonnes of medicine, medical supplies and tents collected by Doctors of the Heart; Two thousand blankets and 50 eight-person tents donated by the Red Cross and 100 items of bedding from Medicin du Monde; six thousand human doses of antibiotics (out of 20,000 in total) offered by the health ministry; and medical various supplies and 29,800 units of varied pharmaceuticals offered by the Greek Airforce.

A foreign ministry announcement stressed that Athens was in constant contact with the Greek embassies in Beirut and Nicosia to bring the aid to Lebanon and with the European Commission, which has announced that it will send ā¬5.0 million in humanitarian aid and will contribute with any means at its disposal to the first phase of supplying humanitarian aid and the second phase of Lebanon's reconstruction.

Aid organisations wanted to contribute can contact Hellenic Aid at the numbers 2103683682, 2103683679 and the 24-hour line 2103681212, the announcement added.

Evacuation of Greeks, other nationals, from Lebanon continues

Some 120 Greeks fleeing strife-torn Lebanon arrived in Greece in the early morning hours of Thursday on a Hellenic Airforce C-130 military transport plane, which they had boarded a few hours earlier at the Cypriot airport of Larnaca. The group had arrived about an hour after midnight at Cyprus' port in Limassol from Lebanon aboard the passenger ship "Kriti II", where they were greeted by Greek deputy foreign minister Theodoros Kassimis

Kassimis arrived in Cyprus on Wednesday, where he will coordinate despatches of humanitarian aid from Greece, following an appeal by the Lebanese government.

Kassimis congratulated the government of Cyprus for the assistance it has provided to Greeks and nationals of other countries fleeing Lebanon.

Meanwhile, Greece's National Defence General Staff (GEETHA) announced that the operation for the safe evacuation of non-combatants from Lebanon would continue on Thursday with the army frigates PSARA and THEMISTOCLES.

The two Greek frigates were due to arrive at the port of Beirut before noon on Thursday, at which time the boarding of more combatants would begin.

According to a foreign ministry announcement on Thursday, Greece has so far carried out five evacuation operations and provided passage out of Lebanon for 1,700 people, of which 500 were Greeks.

More than 30 countries have so far requested Athens' assistance in removing their citizens from the war zone, it added.

So far, Greece has helped evacuate citizens from Cyprus, Austria, Argentina, Bulgaria, Lebanon, Belgium, the United States, the Netherlands, Russia, UK, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Mexico, Slovakia, Sweden, Australia, Switzerland, Jordan, Romania, New Zealand, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Romania, Ethiopia and the Philippines.

Greece's assistance has also been requested by the United Nations, while several countries have chartered Greek-registered ships.

The foreign ministry stressed that every effort had been made to meet demands for ships by other countries, despite the heightened domestic demand during the holiday period.

[02] Papandreou: Cyprus issue an international problem

Papandreou stressed that Turkey, which wants to become a member of the European family, must meet its obligations of good-neighbourhood and respect of International Law toward Cyprus as well, in order to be able to live in peace, with cooperation and a prospect for economic growth and friendship.

Papandreou stressed that Cyprus is a member of the European Union, and an important country that was already playing a significant role in the evacuation of non-combatants from Lebanon.

The PASOK leader said that for the past 32 years "we have been working for a free and united Cyprus where Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots will be able to live together without a wall separating them". He also stressed that a strong effort is being made to formulate a course that will "consolidate our rights and peace" so that the product of the people's toil may be invested in peaceful purposes.

Papandreou also said that he visited the outpost to honour and thank all the Greek men and women serving their country in the border regions, bringing a sense of security to the people while safeguarding Greeceās rights and territorial integrity.

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