Somalia has sent a ship initially to evacuate its citizens still stranded in war-torn Yemen, Horseed Media reports.
‘’The ship safely reached Yemen and boarding has already started. It is expected to carry more than 900 people and will arrive in Mogadishu in the coming days,’’ says an official from the Federal Parliament.
Last month, the members of the Parliament donated a total of $300,000 for the evacuation process from their own pockets.
Meanwhile, Somalia President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud has personally started to push and monitor the evacuation process which is still at its early stages.
The Federal government establishment a committee responsible for the evacuation process which have launched a campaign to raise funds in order to make the process easier.
Though the exact number of Somalis stuck in Yemen is unknown, hundreds of people in Somalia and abroad have expressed concern about loved ones in the middle-eastern country.
For the first time, a plane carrying 95 people including Yemen citizens arrived in Mogadishu airport, making the government’s first major mission to rescue citizens. But thousand of Somali citizens managed to escape from the conflict by themselves, taking boats and cross the Red sea to arrive in Puntland and Somaliland shores.
Since August 2014, Yemen has been hit by a severe political and security crisis. In late January, the armed groups of Ansar Allah (Houthi rebels) forced the president and the government to announce resignation.
