UK government ‘unlikely’ to evacuate Britons in Yemen
A force of around 80 Royal Marines is stationed off Yemen – but the Foreign Secretary has warned British nationals in the country not to expect the Government to evacuate them.
At the weekend, the Foreign Secretary William Hague said that any remaining British nationals in Yemen should not “plan for or expect Government assistance”.
Addressing the House of Commons this afternoon, the Foreign Secretary reiterated the message, warning: “It will be extremely unlikely that the British Government will be able to evacuate British nationals from Yemen.”
He advised any British nationals to “leave the country immediately by commercial means while it is still possible to do so, as we have advised them to do since 12 March.”
However, a force of around 80 marines is on board a naval support ship, RFA Fort Victoria, close to Yemeni shores, according to a BBC report. The Ministry of Defence confirmed that there were British military assets in the region but refused to go into detail.
“As part of routine deployment UK military assets are in the region, although we are not prepared to comment further on their exact operational tasking,” a spokesman said.
The boat has been in the Gulf of Aden area recently as part of NATO operations to counter Somali piracy.
The situation in Yemen is deteriorating rapidly, with reports of al-Qaeda militants taking control of Government offices in the southern city of Zinjibar. The Yemeni president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, is in Saudi Arabia receiving medical treatment after being injured in an attack on his palace.
Evacuation operation ‘unlikely’
Following the latest upsurge in violence, the Foreign Office has been advising British nationals to leave Yemen while commercial flights are still available. Foreign Secretary William Hague had warned at the weekend that it was “extremely unlikely” Britain would be able to stage an evacuation operation.
The presence of Royal Marines off the Yemeni coast is therefore likely to be seen as evidence of contingency planning if events take a significant turn for the worse.
The Fort Victoria is part of the Navy’s Response Force Task Group which has been conducting a series of exercises, mainly in the Mediterranean, over the past weeks. The helicopter carrier HMS Ocean, which has been used as a launch pad for Apache attack helicopters engaged in operations in Libya, is part of the same group.
It has been reported that the auxiliary landing vessel RFA Cardigan Bay is also now heading for Yemen, where it will replace another support vessel, RFA Argus, which has been operating in the region.