REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- As many as 89 Indonesians are still in Aden, Yemen, and cannot be evacuated yet due to unfavorable conditions, Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Retno L. P. Marsudi said.
"We are concerned about our citizens in Aden because they cannot be taken out of the city to a nearby seaport yet," she stated at a press briefing here on Monday.
The minister added that the Indonesian Evacuation Task Force had provided a ship to evacuate the citizens near the seaport, but a change in circumstances resulted in them failing to reach the location.
As part of efforts to evacuate the citizens in Yemen, Marsudi has discussed the situation with some parties, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Saudi Arabian Minister of Defense.
She has also asked permanent representatives of Indonesia in the UN to follow the discussion in the UN Security Council and encourage a "humanitarian pause" in the conflict-ridden country.
"If a humanitarian pause is brought about in Yemen, we can evacuate the citizens immediately, the 89 Indonesians still trapped in the Aden region in particular," the minister affirmed.
On the same occasion, Marsudi also said that as many as 700 Indonesians had been evacuated from Yemen since December 2014, including the 110 citizens who are expected to arrive on Monday.
As scheduled, the second group of evacuees comprising 110 repatriated Indonesians boarded two commercial flights in Yemen and will arrive in Jakarta and Denpasar, Bali, via Muscat, she pointed out at a press briefing here.
The minister stated that a total of 700 Indonesians had been repatriated from Yemen in several phases since December 2014.
Of the total number, 332 were evacuated in December 2014, while the 148 others were repatriated between February and March 2015 after the conflict in Yemen worsened, she remarked.
"On Sunday, April 5, 110 citizens arrived in Indonesia, and another 110 are on their way today and will arrive on Monday," Marsudi noted.
Moreover, despite flying 92 other Indonesians out of Yemen, they could not be transported to Indonesia. While 42 of them were in Jizan, 40 others had entered Jizan from Al Hudaydah, and 10 of them were in Djibouti.
"All the 92 citizens are ready for evacuation," the minister said.
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