Yemen: 26 countries want Indias help in evacuation ops

Ministry of External External Affairs (MEA) on Monday said that 26 countries have requested India to evacuate their citizens from strife-hit Yemen.

MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin shared the information on micro-blogging site Twitter. “Requests for Indian assistance in evacuation from Yemenkeeps growing. On last count 26 requests received,” he posted. 

Countries that have sought India’s assistance in evacuating its nationals from the war-ravaged country, includes, USA, France, Germany, Sweden, Singapore, Malaysia, Ireland, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Iraq among others. While Pakistan has not sought help for the evacuation of its nationals, India during the operation also rescued Pakistani nationals.

India on Monday evacuated 1052 of its nationals from Yemen, taking the total number ofIndians rescued from the strife-torn country to nearly 3,300 as the government was looking at wrapping up the massive evacuation operation ‘Rahat’ in a couple of days.

On Sunday, foreign minister Sushma Swaraj had assured that all Indian nationals would be evacuated from the strategically-placed country in the Middle East.

Earlier on Monday, defence minister Manohar Parrikar said “nearly all Indians would be evacuated from Yemen by Monday evening,” as he praised the Navy for facilitating safe return of people from the Arab country where fighting is raging between security forces and Houthi rebels.

Parrikar, who was in Mumbai to inaugurate the undocking of first Scorpene submarine, said, “Almost all Indians would be evacuated from the strife-torn Yemen by this evening.”

Praising the Navy for its “great job” in ensuring safe passage of Indians from the troubled spot under rescue exercise named “Operation Rahat”, Parrikar said “so far we have evacuated 3,000 Indians and some foreigners in desperate situation.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also hailed the “seamless” operation by various government departments to evacuate Indians as also several non-Indians from strife-torn Yemen.

In a series of tweets, he said the evacuation efforts reflect the government’s willingness to serve its people and readiness to help others in distress, which is India’s ethos.

“Salute the services of our civilian & defence officials & organisations in helping evacuate our citizens from Yemen. Continue your efforts,” he said.

“Seamless co-operation between organisations- MEA, Navy, Air Force, Air India, Shipping, Railways & State Govts greatly helped in rescue work,” the Prime Minister added.

Yemen has been witnessing fierce battle between Saudi-led coalition and Shiite rebels, who have battled their way into various cities Yemen including in the former stronghold of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi who has fled overseas.