MFA urges remaining S’poreans in Yemen to leave
Militants loyal to Yemen's President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi stand by a tank they used in fighting against Houthi fighters in the southern port city of Aden April 11, 2015. Photo: Reuters
SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) is urging Singaporeans still in war-torn Yemen to leave soon, as “the window of opportunity” for safe departure is narrowing.
While MFA’s Crisis Response Team (CRT) is planning another overland evacuation to bring Singaporeans out of the Yemeni city of Tarim, this is contingent on ground conditions, which are becoming increasingly difficult. “The rapidly deteriorating situation may well prevent MFA from mounting further evacuation operation,” MFA said in a statement.
Yemen has been in a state of crisis as fighting between Houthi rebels and forces loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi continues to devastate the country. Despite repeated calls to do so since last year, some Singaporeans have chosen to remain. MFA said it is “deeply concerned” about this group, and will continue to maintain close contact with them.
TODAY understands that some Singaporeans who have chosen to remain include students, those have married and settled down in Yemen or those with businesses there.
Over the past two weeks, the MFA has evacuated 23 Singaporeans. Yesterday (April 12), about eight Singaporeans, together with nationals from countries including Brunei, India and Malaysia, arrived in Salalah in Oman after an arduous 22-hour coach ride out of Tarim arranged by MFA and the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS). A CRT was despatched to Oman to receive the eight Singaporeans at the Omani border, and will be arranging for them to return home later this week.
“The Singaporeans told us that the journey was tiring – more than 20 hours on the road with several stops. My colleagues and I are relieved that they arrived safely in Salalah. We would also like to thank the Omani government for facilitating the operations of our CRT,” said Mr Richard Grosse, Consul-General of the Singapore Consulate-General in Muscat and leader of the CRT.
The other 15 Singaporeans were evacuated between April 2 and 9. This included a Singaporean family of four, who had reached out to the ministry for assistance to leave the Houthi-controlled city of Sana’a on April 6.
While both parents had valid Singapore passports, their two young children — aged three years and one month old — had no travel documents. The MFA arranged for them to travel with a convoy arranged by the Philippines to Saudi Arabia, and staff from the Singapore Consulate-General in Jeddah met the family at the Saudi border checkpoint to issue the children with Documents of Identity, facilitated by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority. The family arrived home safely yesterday.
Last Wednesday, MUIS said there were about 60 Singaporeans in Yemen. One Singaporean who had chosen to stay despite the MFA’s warnings is Mr Haykal Bafana, the managing partner of a law firm.
“Since my wife is still quite okay with it, and because of my professional obligations, we don’t have any plans to return back to Singapore,” he said.
The 43-year-old, who is married with four children, was also living in Yemen during the 2011 unrest.
“Sana’a has become emptier as people have gone back to their villages. The streets are in fact easier to travel along but there are also shortages of petrol and food sources, so we have had to stock up. School has stopped for the children, and we have switched to home-schooling our children to ensure their safety,” he told TODAY last week.
Singaporeans in Yemen who have yet to contact MFA or require assistance are urged to contact the MFA Duty Officer (24-hours) at 6379 8800 / 8855 or mfa_duty_officer [at] mfa.gov.sg for advice and assistance.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KELLY NG
