Govt trying to get more than 800 Malaysians out of Yemen

Yemenis gather near the rubble of houses near Sanaa Airport on March 31, 2015 which were destroyed by an air strike as Saudi-led coalition warplanes hit Shiite Huthi militia targets across Yemen overnight. - AFP Photo/Mohammed Huwais

KOTA KINABALU: The government is trying to evacuate 879 Malaysian citizens out of Yemen as soon as possible, said Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman.

He said his ministry and the Malaysian embassy in Sanaa were still discussing with the Yemeni government on the best way to bring them out of the strife-torn country, whether by air or land.

"At present, the majority of Malaysians (in Yemen) are students and are in four cities. In Sanaa, there are 159 people, Al-Hudayda (45), Aden (75) and Hadramaut (600). We have been able to contact all of them and they are safe.

"...efforts are still being made to evacuate them from Yemen as soon as possible. We do not know what will happen (in Yemen). So our focus is how to bring our citizens out safely," he said.

Anifah was speaking to reporters after presenting appointment letters to five Heads of Missions here Tuesday.

The recipients were Datuk Ramlan Ibrahim who will be the Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN) in New York, Datuk Zulkifli Adnan (Ambassador to Germany), Datuk Adnan Othman (Ambassador to Austria and Malaysian Permanent Representative to UN in Vienna, Ahmad Rozian Abd Ghani (Ambassador to Kuwait) and Mohamad Nizam Mohamad (Ambassador to North Korea).

He said out of the 879 Malaysians in Yemen, 264 had already registered with the Malaysian embassy there.

According to Anifah, National Security Council representaives were already in Saudi Arabia to coordinate and find the best way to bring the Malaysians out of Yemen safely.

Meanwhile, Anifah advised all Malaysians not to visit Yemen for the time being.

He also advised Malaysians overseas to register with the Malaysian embassies in the countries where they are and that all Malaysians should know the telephone number of the Malaysian embassy so that they could contact it if necessary.

- Source: Bernama