Yemen evacuation operation was 'resounding success': Swaraj

The operation to evacuate people from war-torn Yemen was a "resounding success" which was acknowledged by the world community, government told Rajya Sabha today while noting that 1,947 nationals of 48 countries besides 4,741 Indians were rescued safely.
Making a suo motu statement, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said under the operation 'Raahat', 6,688 people were altogether evacuated from Yemen by air and sea routes.
"I am glad to inform this august House that operation 'Raahat' conducted for the evacuation of Indian nationals from war-torn Yemen has been a resounding success, well- acknowledged by the international community.
"We not only managed to safely evacuate 4,741 Indians but also 1,947 foreign nationals from 48 countries till 18 April under most difficult circumstances," she said.

Swaraj said India had received formal requests from 33 countries, including some neighbouring and western nations, for assistance in evacuation of their nationals as the Indian embassy was among the handful of foreign missions operational in Sana'a after the airstrikes began.
"We responded positively to these requests to the extent possible based on ground realities and helped nationals of 48 countries in evacuation," the Minister said.

India's approach in the evacuation process has been guided by the spirit of 'vasudev kutumbakam' (the whole world is one), Swaraj said.
While giving details about the evacuation process and related developments, she said, "in view of the worsening security situation in Sana'a and after the successful conclusion of the evacuation process, we have relocated our Embassy to Djibouti on April 15."

She said the Indian Embassy would continue to operate from Djibouti till the situation returns to normal in Yemen.