RI Government Rescues US and British Citizens from Yemen

Liputan6.com, Jakarta - The Indonesian government has again, successfully evacuated foreign citizens currently trapped in the conflict zone of Yemen. 

The evacuated foreigners reported to be The U.S and UK citizens currently staying in the problematic country.

The Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Relations Spokesperson, Arrmanatha Nasir informed how the foreigners were evacuated along with a group of 43 Indonesian citizens in Yemen. 

They were rescued on Tuesday night 7 of April 2015. They are currently in a monitored safe place in Salalah, Oman.

"A group of 47 people left Yaman from Tarim heading toward Salalah last night," Arrmanatha told Liputan6.com correspondent in Jakarta, Wednesday (8/4/2015).

"There are 43 Indonesians, 2 British and 2 Americans safely evacuated last night," he continued.

Meanwhile, there are still hundreds of Indonesian citizens who have not yet been evacuated. 

However, the Indonesian government promises to continue to the evacuation process until all Indonesians are rescued. As many as 300 Indonesian citizens have expressed their readiness to be evacuated from the catastrophic zone.

"We have 300 Indonesian citizens ready to be evacuated from Tarim," he added.

With many modes of transportation deployed and all possible routes to reach the RI citizens within differing areas in Yemen taken into serious consideration. It is acceptable to see other nations requesting for help.

"Many countries have asked for our help. We have Thailand, Philippines, Latvia, India and even Sri Langka asking for our help in evacuating their people," Indonesian Minister of Foreign Relations, Retno Marsudi informed at her office on Monday 6 April 2015. 

Minister Retno informed how the mission to also help foreigners along the way is based on the promise, that the involving countries have made with Indonesia. Thus, the relationship developed with Indonesia is viewed as beneficial and fruitful as in times like this, RI role is deemed necessary.

"We had a deal. We will surely take some time to evacuate the citizens of the countries who have asked for our help. But of course we would also look into the situation, if it is possible we would rescue them," she continued.

Minister Retno continued assuring Indonesia's stance on this conflict. 

The conflict emerged shortly after the Houthi rebels decided to overthrow the existing government by violently tipping off the balance of power within that nation as to wreck havoc the current order.

Current reality shows that victory at the preliminary stage evidently favours the insurgents' behalf with their apparent success in dominating most part of Yemen's capital city, Sanaa.

Minister Retno thinks her job now is to evacuate Indonesian people and stay aloof from the conflict.  

This is not a sign of negligence but a form of respect to the existing democratically-elected government in Yemen. 

Therefore, Minister Retno viewed it as fit to perform her duty without interfering in the conflict that is obviously not for Indonesia to intrude 

"Indonesia has agreed to respect the democratically- elected government there," she added.

Therefore, she informed all parties to avoid the exacerbation of the conflict. 

Other countries involvement in a nation's domestic affair would only further deteriorate the conflict, as too many opinions would have to be taken into account which eventually creates chaos and confusion. (Akp/Tnt)