Philippines to evacuate remaining Filipinos in Yemen

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines will “intensify efforts” to evacuate the remaining 1,200 Filipinos in Yemen as clashes rock the capital city of Sanaa.

“Upon the instructions of President Benigno S. Aquino III and committed to ensuring the safety and welfare of Filipinos in Yemen, we are intensifying efforts to repatriate Filipinos out of Yemen,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said Saturday.

A total of 282 Filipinos have been repatriated from Yemen since Manila asked for a voluntary repatriation on May 24 and later ordered a mandatory evacuation on June 6. About 1,200 Philippine nationals have remained in the Middle East country.

Clashes rocked the Yemeni capital on Saturday after 37 people were killed in 24 hours despite calls by President Ali Abdullah Saleh for peace after his return from months of medical treatment in Riyadh.

Republican Guard troops, commanded by Saleh’s son Ahmed, have been locked in a week of deadly battles with dissident soldiers from the First Armoured Brigade headed by General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, who have since March protected anti-regime protesters camped out on Sanaa’s Change Square.

Security forces have also been fighting supporters of dissident tribal chief Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar in Sanaa’s northern Al-Hasaba district.

The fighting has caused 132 deaths since Sunday, based on a tally obtained from medics and tribal and opposition sources. State news agency Saba said 24 of Saleh’s soldiers have also been killed. With Agence France-Presse