Few of last Bangladeshis in Yemen want to return

Very few of the remaining 100 or so Bangladeshis in conflict-torn Yemen are contacting to be evacuated and brought back home, prompting government officials to believe that many might not want to return.

"We are continuing communication with the IOM (International Organization for Migration) authorities to evacuate our nationals who want to return home," said SM Mahbubul Alam, counsellor at the Bangladesh embassy in Kuwait, yesterday.

"The IOM already rescued 29 of our nationals," he told The Daily Star over the phone.

The Middle Eastern country has been in turmoil for months since rebels took over the capital, Sanaa, after bursting out of their northern stronghold, say international media.

Since last month, when the crisis hit, 528 Bangladeshis have been brought back with assistance from the Indian authorities, who have ended their evacuation mission, and the IOM.

The last batch of 165 Bangladeshis reached Dhaka on Wednesday night by two separate flights after being stranded for over three weeks.

Bangladesh has no mission in Yemen. The government set up a temporary mission in Djibouti on April 3 with its embassy officials from Kuwait and Turkey.

Mahbubul said they would continue to run the Djibouti mission until it ceased to be needed.