NZ families desperate to get out of Lebanon

Fadi Bouchaaya

Fourteen Lebanese New Zealanders, including babies and children, are desperate to be evacuated from Beirut as it is bombarded by Israeli warplanes.

Fadi Bouchaaya, a 30-year-old restaurant owner from Papakura, told the Herald yesterday the New Zealanders went to Beirut for his wedding.

The party included his parents, two sisters and their children and two friends and their young families. They were from Papakura, Takanini and Hamilton.

Mr Bouchaaya married a Lebanese woman on June 11 and had intended to return to New Zealand in about a fortnight.

"We haven't finished our honeymoon.They've done that for us."

Mr Bouchaaya said they were within earshot of the action in Beirut.

"It's quite scary. You don't know when it's going to hit you."

He said Lebanon was being devastated.

"It's a disaster, not safe to be around. The Israelis are bombarding close by and it's not safe to travel."

The children were finding it difficult.

"They do not know what war is about. We have to tell them not to play outside. They hear the planes at night and the sounds of the explosions."

Mr Bouchaaya said he had been in touch with the British Embassy to indicate his group wanted to be evacuated but had not heard back.

"We only hope we get out of here safely."

It was hard to get money out of banks and petrol was becoming scarce.

Daniel Nakhle, the son of a New Zealand Lebanese couple staying about half an hour's drive north of Beirut, said his parents were not too worried about their safety.

Henriette and Elias Nakhle, of Papatoetoe, were taking their regular holiday in Lebanon and staying in a relatively safe strongly Christian area.

They told Mr Nakhle they were carrying on as usual but would accept any offer to be evacuated should getting out any other way be too difficult.

Britain is sending two Royal Navy ships to the area and is making plans for a possible evacuation of British citizens.

The New Zealand Government has formally asked Britain to take New Zealanders wanting to get out of Lebanon, and says it expects a positive response.

Joseph Howley, president of the Auckland Lebanese Society, said it was imperative that the New Zealanders in Lebanon got out safely.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said 35 to 40 New Zealanders were in Lebanon. Most Western countries were stepping up efforts to evacuate their citizens.

Dunedin man Matthew Farry says his family are scared as they do not know how the conflict will escalate.

"You have to understand the people here are like chickens in the coop, knowing there is a weasel at the door, but they do not know when he will come in," said Dr Farry, a social and cultural anthropologist who has been a university lecturer in Beirut for five years.

Dr Farry had planned to take his wife and two daughters to Dunedin in September, but now intends to ask the British Embassy to get them out as soon as possible.

Te Kimiti Gilbert, another New Zealander in Lebanon, hopes his 8-year-old daughter will soon be evacuated, with two other New Zealand families.

Mr Gilbert, chief of operations with the United Nations Mine Action Co-ordination Centre, is based in Tyre, 20km north of Lebanon's border with Israel.

He said things had been very tense.

"There's a lot of anxious people around here. There's constant shelling going around the place, and Israeli jets are flying over all the time."

Mr Gilbert said two other New Zealand families with the United Nations had toddlers and young children with them.

The UN planned to evacuate families and all non-essential staff soon - probably tomorrow.

"That doesn't include me unfortunately," said Mr Gilbert. "I'll be staying."

He said the first bomb was dropped on Tyre on Sunday afternoon and he was only a "couple of hundred" metres away when it fell on the civil defence building.

"I'd like to go, but someone's got to stay here and make sure everything else is OK with our guys."

Eight New Zealand Defence Force personnel are continuing in their roles with the United Nations as part of the UN truce supervision mission.

Squadron Leader Andrew Greig is the only officer in Lebanon, and has moved with his wife and two sons to a hotel with other UN military observers near Tyre where they are awaiting UN advice on the evacuation of dependants.