Manila: The Philippine government called on 400 overseas Filipino workers to leave Yemen, adding they must follow the example of 400 other OFWs who have been evacuated to Saudi Arabia before their flights back home.

Relatives in the Philippines were told to convince 400 OFWs who wanted to remain in strife-torn Yemen to return home. “They must take advantage of Philippine government’s assistance after it has imposed a mandatory repatriation of all OFWs in Yemen,” said foreign affairs spokesman Charles Jose.

On March 5, some 243 OFWs left Sana’a, in a convoy of five buses. “They arrived safely at Saudi Arabia’s border, which was 215 kilometres away, and rested in Jizan to wait for their flight to the Philippines,” said Jose.

At the same time, 20 more OFWs called up the Philippine government’s Crisis Management Teams (CMT) at the Movenpick Hotel for evacuation.

“OFWS can call up the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh; and at the Philippine consulate in Jeddah for this assistance. The Philippine government has a very small window of land evacuation of OFWs from Yemen,” warned Jose.

On April 5, the Philippine consulate in Jeddah successfully evacuated 99 OFWs, including two infants, in a convoy of two buses that left Hodeildah City in Yemen. “They arrived safely at the border of Saudi Arabia and were brought to Jizan before their flight to the Philippines,” Philippine Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Ezzedin Tago said in a report that reached Manila. The Philippine Embassy in Riyadh is in charge of OFW affairs in Yemen.

The Philippine government banned the deployment of OFWs to Yemen last October 2014. There was a similar ban on December 10, 2013, after seven OFWs were killed and 11 others were injured in a bomb attack at the Yemeni defence ministry complex on December 5 of that year.

Some 800 OFWs were based in Yemen as of 2013. A total of 10 million OFWs are based worldwide, said the labour department.

“The problem is intensifying in Yemen,” assessed the Philippine government. Two suicide bombers detonated devices at two mosques and killed 130, including 13 children in Sana’a on March 20.

Targeted were the Shiite supporters of AlHouthi rebel group from the north that took over the south and seized power from US-backed President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi last September 2014. Hadi sought refuge in southern Aden in February 2015, and asked for assistance from other Arab nations.

On March 21, Al Houthis took over Taiz with assistance from forces loyal to Ali Abdullah Saleh who was ousted during the Arab Spring. On March 23, Al Houthis seized an Air Force base used by special forces for a drone campaign against the Al Qaida in Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). On March 25, Al Houthis moved to Aden in pursuit of Hadi.