Evacuation from Yemen ending as situation deteriorates

With the security situation in Yemen rapidly deteriorating, some countries have almost finished evacuation of their citizens, while other countries have instructed their citizens to leave Yemen.

Along with about 4,600 Indians, India's government has evacuated nearly 1,000 nationals from 41 countries, including Britain, France and the United States.

India foreign minister V.K. Singh, who joined several Air India flights into the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, to evacuate people from the conflict there to Djibouti, returned to India on Friday.

The Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, said India had now ended its rescue effort and India will close its embassy in Sanaa. According to media reports, however, some Indians are still stranded in Yemen.

The Chinese government evacuated 629 Chinese citizens from Yemen ports from March 29th to April 6th, and, at the request of other 15 countries, also helped evacuate 279 of their citizens.

On April 6, the final batch of staff from Chinese diplomatic and consular missions in Yemen left the country. The Chinese Embassy in Yemen and Consulate General in Aden are temporarily closed.

Besides India and China, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Algeria, Tunisia, Mauritius, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Djibouti and Sudan have also evacuated their nationals. The United Nations evacuated more than 100 of its international staff from Sanaa.

While some countries haven't launched operations to evacuate their nationals yet, they have instructed their nationals to leave the country immediately.

According to a British Embassy spokesman in Riyadh, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office advised its citizens against all travel plans to Yemen and instructed others to leave the country immediately, if anyone is there.

The Embassy of the United States in Yemen has suggested US citizens to leave the country.

"The US government has been advised that the Indian and Djiboutian governments are no longer offering evacuation assistance from Yemen," said a post on the embassy's website.

US citizens are advised to board flights organized by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) from Sana'a to Djibouti or flights from Sana'a to Khartoum, Sudan or Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

"Please note that upon arrival, US citizens will only be granted permission by the Sudanese and Ethiopian governments to remain in the country for a few days," the post said.

Thousands of people are still stranded in Yemen, where Saudi Arabia has launched air strikes against Iranian-allied Houthi rebels.