(Ottawa) Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly announced Thursday that she plans to meet her counterparts from Lebanon and France at the Francophonie summit, where the shadow of a wider war in the Middle East is already looming.
Updated yesterday at 7:45 p.m.
Nojoud Al Mallees
The Canadian Press
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mr.me Joly landed in Paris on Thursday evening to attend the Francophonie Summit, as the crisis in the Middle East continues to worsen.
Canada and other G7 countries again called for a ceasefire near the end of a week that saw a salvo of Iranian missiles fired toward Israel and the start of a ground war as troops Israeli troops were heading towards southern Lebanon.
The Israeli military signaled Thursday that it may expand that ground operation, warning residents to evacuate a town and other communities in southern Lebanon that lie north of a U.N.-declared buffer zone.
The region is also bracing for Israeli retaliation following the Iranian ballistic missile attack.
Mélanie Joly indicated that she would speak to the Lebanese Minister of Information and his French counterpart about the situation in Lebanon.
“Unfortunately, the Lebanese Prime Minister and the Lebanese Foreign Minister are not here for obvious reasons, because the war is hitting their country,” she stressed.
La Francophonie is also working on a broader declaration regarding the Middle East, added Mr.me Joly, noting that Lebanon is a member state.
Nearly a week ago, Canada began helping its citizens in Lebanon find seats on available commercial planes departing from Beirut, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs said an additional 654 seats had been reserved out of three flights to Istanbul on Thursday.
Around 900 seats are reserved on commercial flights due to depart over the weekend, Ms added.me Joly, and not all these seats were taken.
“So please, as things become more dangerous across Lebanon – including in Beirut, we saw there was a strike recently – please take this seat,” she insisted.
Prime Minister Trudeau said Wednesday that the international community must do everything it can to avoid a larger regional war, but recent developments have many fearing that is already happening.
PHOTO ADRIAN WYLD, CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Justin Trudeau
In a September 27 statement, Secretary General of La Francophonie, Louise Mushikiwabo, expressed the solidarity of the French-speaking family with the Lebanese people and called on all parties to seek a diplomatic solution to the conflict.
In Haiti, a new report released September 30 says nearly half of the country’s population of more than 11 million is experiencing acute levels of hunger, as violence from criminal organizations stifles life in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and beyond.
Last week, at the United Nations General Assembly, Mr. Trudeau urged world leaders to come together to develop a serious and immediate plan to meet the humanitarian needs of Haitians.
The Francophonie summit, which takes place every two years, will be held Thursday and Friday in Villers-Cotterêts and Paris. France succeeds Tunisia as president of La Francophonie and has declared that the theme of the summit will be to “create, innovate and do business in French”.
The leaders are expected to discuss ways to promote the French language, address geopolitical challenges, ensure the digital space reflects their linguistic and cultural diversity, and strengthen economic ties between the countries.
Canada will also be represented at the summit by Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Quebec. Prime Minister François Legault has already been in Paris for a few days.
Leaders of La Francophonie are expected to make a decision on applications for membership in the international body of the Francophonie, including Nova Scotia’s request for observer status.
Minister Joly revealed that the summit discussions will focus in particular on ways to resolve the shortage of French teachers around the world.
