Bangladesh mulls airlifting its nationals from Yemen

Bangladesh is considering airlifting its stranded nationals from the troubled Yemeni capital, Sana’a, and its nearby cities.

The government estimates around 350 Bangladeshis are stuck in Sana’a, currently in the control of the Houthi rebels, who have ousted Yemen’s president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

The capital’s airspace, however, is being controlled by Saudi Arabia, which is conducting airstrikes on rebel positions.

Bangladesh has endorsed the Saudi-led efforts in Yemen.

The foreign ministry has dispatched a team from its Kuwait embassy, accredited to Yemen and Djibouti, opposite Aden, from where the rescue operations are being coordinated.

India has responded positively to Bangladesh’s call for help.

India is using ships to rescue a large number of its citizens living there.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam, currently in Oman, said in a Facebook post on Sunday that three Bangladeshis had been rescued by an Indian ship from the city of Al Hudaydah, near Sana'a. 

“They are in Djibouti now,” he wrote.

A senior foreign ministry official told bdnews24.com on Sunday that they were considering airlifting from Sana’s after India got permission for two Air India flights to evacuate its nationals.

“Sana’a is the most affected zone and our nationals are frightened. But we have not been able to reach there. Our Honorary Consul General is working on the matter.”

Bangladesh does not run a mission in Yemen, but it has come to light, after the strife broke out, that anywhere between 1,500 and 3,000 Bangladeshis are in that country.

“So far, we have not heard of foreigners being targeted. But they are finding it hard to secure food and water in Sana’a and its adjacent cities,” the official said, preferring anonymity.

He said most of the Bangladeshis in Aden were safe.

“They don’t want to come back. We have found only 50 to 70 of them want to return.”

Russia and the Red Cross appealed on Saturday for a pause in military operations in Yemen to allow urgent humanitarian aid deliveries and evacuation of civilians.

“All air, land and sea routes must be opened without delay for at least 24 hours to enable help to reach people cut off after more than a week of intense air strikes and fierce ground fighting nationwide,” the ICRC said in a statement.

The United Nations says more than 500 people have been killed in the past two weeks in Yemen and nearly 1,700 wounded.

The conflict in Yemen has turned the impoverished Arabian Peninsula state into the latest theatre for Sunni Saudi Arabia’s proxy war with its regional Shia rival Iran.

The struggle to supremacy is also playing out in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq.

Tehran denies Riyadh's charges that it has been arming the Houthis, who emerged as the country's most powerful faction when they took over the capital six months ago together with supporters of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, Reuters reported.

Hotlines for help
 
Dhaka has opened hotlines and asked relatives of stranded Bangladeshis to contact them, if needed.
 
Bangladesh embassy in Kuwait’s Counsellor SM Mahbubul Alam, who would work from Djibouti, can be reached at his roaming number: 0096-599574203 and email:[e-mail].
 
Lutfur Rahman, foreign ministry’s Director General of the Consular and Welfare Wing, and BM Jamal Hossain, Director Welfare, MRP and Consular, are the other two contacts back in Dhaka.
 
They can be reached at 0088-01726260967 and [e-mail], and 0088-01711380374 and [e-mail] respectively.