Cyprus takes in more evacuees, UN calls for aid

LARNACA, Cyprus, July 23 (Reuters) Cyprus braced to take in nearly 10,000 more fugitives from Lebanon today as the United Nations appealed for urgent international aid for the far greater numbers of people left behind.

About 14 vessels were expected to dock at the Cypriot ports of Larnaca and Limassol today and on Monday, part of a days-old mass evacuation already involving more than 25,000 people from dozens of countries that shows no signs of slowing.

More than 1,000 weary Canadians walked ashore in the sticky Cypriot summer night. Women tried to pacify screaming infants as they queued to enter a cramped reception centre.

''We are really tired, it has been a very long trip ... Many more people could not leave, the boats were simply too crowded,'' said student Cynthia Eid.

Elie Coriaty, 51, an engineering consultant from Montreal, said Canada had been slower to act than some other countries.

''The Canadians were behind for the first few days... but now it is picking up... They are making up for lost time,'' he said.

Two ships carrying nearly 2,000 Americans docked in Limassol, adding to the nearly 8,000 the Pentagon said had already been evacuated from Lebanon via Cyprus and Turkey.

Many Americans were still stuck at a makeshift camp in a fairground in the Cypriot capital Nicosia awaiting chartered planes to fly them home.

By contrast, an estimated 5,000 British evacuees passing through the British air force base at Akrotiri in southern Cyprus were swiftly processed and flown home.

''The state of the people coming through has got worse with time.

One man came through without shoes. We gave another man a toothbrush and he just burst into tears,'' said Olivia Draper, one of several British volunteers helping out at the base.

BRITISH DEADLINE Britain has said its final official maritime evacuation will be completed today.

''I hope they can do something for the people who are still there (in Lebanon) to get them out. I just cannot believe they would just leave them there,'' said volunteer Ann MacDougall, a pensioner from Wiltshire who lives in Cyprus.

Lieutenant Colonel John Brown, commanding officer of the 27th transport regiment, told Reuters a final scheduled helicopter flight to pick up evacuees would leave the airbase today and would return with 300 people.

Evacuees at the base seemed relieved to be there today.

''I am heading to England to find a new home,'' said Fouad Hijazi, 63, a retired merchant and British passport holder.

U N emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland said at least 100 million dollars was urgently needed to help avert a humanitarian disaster in Lebanon, and he urged Israel and its Hizbollah foes to guarantee safe passage to the aid convoys.

Egeland said he would fly to Beirut aboard a British helicopter early today to assess the situation there and to ''urge and beg'' donors to produce more food, medicine and water.

French humanitarian agency Medicins Sans Frontieres said it was sending 60 tonnes of aid to Lebanon.

Not all the people in Larnaca port were fleeing Lebanon.

Hule Zide, 45, a laboratory assistant, was one of dozens of Lebanese heading back to their country today aboard a French-chartered boat. Israeli forces have cratered Beirut airport's runways, making the return more difficult.

''I love my country, I have my job, I have my mom and dad, my family. I have to work and I have to support them,'' said Zide, who had been on holiday in Paris when the war started.

''I am not afraid of dying under their bombs.'' REUTERS KR VV1259 Reut 06:43 07-23-06