As Yemen’s Shia-Sunni conflict spreads, forcing President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to flee his home in Aden and rebels advance on the capital, India on Wednesday issued an urgent advisory, telling its citizens to leave Yemen.
“We are advising our nationals to leave the country immediately through available commercial flights,” an External Affairs Ministry spokesperson said. Despite the fact that this is the third such advisory, the MEA believes about 3,500 Indian nationals are still inside Yemen.
The government has been particularly concerned over the risks to Indians caught in conflict zones like Iraq and Libya in the recent past, and in particular, the danger and potential exploitation of nurses going to work in these places.
Clearance for nurses
To that end, the government has made emigration clearance mandatory for Indian nurses seeking overseas employment in 18 countries, including Yemen, starting April 30.
“The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs examined the issue of exploitation of Indian nurses going abroad for employment … Indian nurses will mandatorily obtain emigration clearance from the office of Protector of Emigrants,” the External Affairs Ministry said in a statement.
The list of countries include United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Malaysia, Libya, Jordan, Yemen, North Sudan, South Sudan, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Syria, Lebanon, Thailand and Iraq.
It has also been decided that recruitment of nurses will initially be restricted through two state-run recruiting agencies — Norka-Roots and Overseas Development and Employment Promotion Consultant, Kerala.
