REPUBLIKA.CO.ID,  SURABAYA -- Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said some 218 Indonesian citizens (WNI) are still in the war-torn Yemen.

"The government has been successful in evacuating 993 WNIs from risky areas in Yemen," the Foreign Minister told Antara on the sidelines of the inauguration of Dr. Makarim Wibisono MA-IS MA as a professor of the Airlangga University (Unair) on Saturday.

Up till Friday, she said, a total of 775 WNIs out of 993 had already been evacuated and had arrived in Indonesia, and now only 218 WNIs remained in Yemen.

The foreign minister also said the remaining persons would be flown to the country on Saturday, Monday and on Tuesday.

Minister Marsudi said her ministry had dispatched an air force plane for Yemen. "God willing, the plane will arrive in the country with about 90 to 100 WNIs aboard on Monday, April 13," she added.

She said some WNIs could not be evacuated for a number of reasons, such as security conditions, transportation constraints and refusal to return to Indonesia.

"In the Aden area of South Yemen, 17 Indonesians were trapped, but the security conditions there were much worse, but still, we will continue to make efforts, including cooperating with other countries, so that they can be evacuated," Minister Marsudi said.

There are also Indonesians in the eastern part of Yemen. "But we are also constrained by transportation problems. Because of this, we are conducting the evacuation in stages," she said.

She added that the government would continue to evacuate citizens because the state had to fulfill the obligation of safeguarding its citizens.

"But we could not force them if they refuse to be evacuated. We have the obligation to make them understand with regards to their safety," the minister added.

The minister had earlier called on warring parties in Yemen to impose a humanitarian pause to give time for the evacuation of civilians out of Yemen.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press statement that the Indonesian government could use the humanitarian pause to speedily evacuate its citizens (WNI) who were still trapped in Yemen.

According to the foreign ministry, security conditions in Yemen, particularly around the Aden and Sana'a cities were deteriorating. The armed clashes among the conflicting parties were also escalating.

These conditions had posed difficulties in the efforts to evacuate the Indonesian citizens there, thus forcing the team to follow special scenarios for the evacuation process.

After all, the evacuation team had to carry out the evacuation on a fast, safe and efficient basis.

Regarding the latest conditions in Yemen, the Indonesian government expressed concern about the civilians becoming casualties of the conflict.

The Indonesian government has requested the warring parties to restrain themselves and pay attention to the civilians, both Yemeni and foreign citizens.

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