Listen to This Article Enhance your reading experience by listening to this article.

The Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs has said the deadline for registration for a mass evacuation exercise from Lebanon is today, Saturday, October 12, 2024.

In a statement from the Principal Secretary for Diaspora Affairs Roseline Njogu, the PS indicated that those intending to be evacuated from the Middle East country must register today.

Kenyans in Lebanon, the registration deadline is today. We’ve made plans for the 6,907 who have registered as of this morning, with a number leaving this coming week. If you need to be evacuated, you must register by today,” PS Njogu said on Saturday, October 12, 2024.

On October 9, 2024, while addressing the Senate, Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi stated that Lebanon was host to some 26,000 Kenyans and that a majority of them had voluntarily resolved to hold out amid the escalating tensions in the region.

Mudavadi evacuation plans

Mudavadi stated that most of the Kenyan workers in the country were quiet despite the state’s efforts to reach out to them for coordination of evacuation efforts.

“Evacuating 26,000 people is a massive undertaking but as a measure, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through our embassy in Kuwait was sending out messages so that those in distress can register,” Mudavadi told the senators.

“We have a dilemma of Kenyans who hope for the best and do not want to move, and you cannot force them. The government of Kenya has set aside Ksh100 million to assist in the evacuation of Kenyans in Lebanon,” he added.

Tensions are simmering in Lebanon after Israel indicated that they were prepared to invade Lebanon in their efforts to hunt down members of the Hezbollah.

Just weeks ago, airstrikes in the North of Lebanon resulted in the death of several people including Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Lebanon domestic workers

Many Kenyans are domestic workers in the Middle Eastern country and a full-scale invasion of Lebanon may expose them to the vagaries of such attacks.

The government, however, maintains that it will only evacuate Kenyans willing to leave the country.

Tensions continue to simmer with Israeli forces determined to quash any attacks that arise from Lebanon with great firepower.

Lebanon was roped into the conflict between Israel and Palestine which led to the decimation of huge populations in Gaza.

Lebanon hosts a significant number of refugee population fleeing from the conflict in Palestine.

Last week, Hezbollah reported that a building hosting Palestine refugees had been attacked by an Israeli airstrike.