Yemen - On Wednesday (13/5) IOM resumed evacuation flights from Sana'a, Yemen to Khartoum, Sudan, following the announcement of a five-day humanitarian pause in the Yemen conflict. It also used the pause to fly in key international staff evacuated to Amman, Jordan during the fighting.  

Wednesday’s flight evacuated 115 third country nationals and 32 Yemenis. The foreign nationals included 46 Americans, 19 Bangladeshis, 15 Egyptians, 10 French, 8 Czechs, 6 Italians, 5 Sudanese, 4 British and 2 Germans, according to IOM Operations Officer Saba Malme, who organized the evacuation.

The flight was the first of four scheduled to operate during the pause and evacuees would be provided with onward travel from Khartoum to their final destinations, he noted.

“IOM welcomes the humanitarian pause and is doing its best to bring in as much aid as it possibly can while we have the opportunity,” said Mohammed Abdiker, Director of IOM’s Department of Operations and Emergencies.

“But it does not come close to meeting the conditions that would allow the delivery of enough humanitarian aid to the millions who need it. Nevertheless we will keep trying to reach more affected people, whether or not the ceasefire holds,” he added.

During the past six weeks IOM staff in Yemen have continued to provide humanitarian aid, including shelter, non-food relief items (NFI), healthcare and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services to displaced Yemenis and third country nationals across the country.

IOM has four warehouses in Sana’a, Al Jawf, Aden and Haradh, stocked with non-food items, including shelter and sanitation kits for up to 10,000 households. But some of the facilities have been inaccessible since late March. 

IOM logisticians are also planning to bring in additional stocks from outside Yemen, including 10 metric tonnes of medical supplies from Djibouti, and NFI and shelter kits for an additional 10,000 households from the Kenyan capital Nairobi.

It also plans to begin operating movements by sea, using a vessel to bring in supplies and evacuate people from the ports of Hodeidah and Mokha. It is appealing for funds to support its lifesaving operations in Yemen.

For further information please contact Joel Millman at IOM HQ, Tel: + 41 79 103 87 20, Email: jmillman@iom.int. Or Bekim Ajdini at IOM Yemen, Tel. +962 79 826 4 906, Email: bajdini@iom.int