16 Muslim Cambodian students evacuated from Yemen

Cham students expected to land in Cambodia after bus ride to Oman border. Sixteen students from Cambodia’s Cham Muslim community have been safely evacuated from restive Yemen and were expected to land in Cambodia on Tuesday after receiving assistance from the Malaysian and Singaporean governments. The Cambodia Daily quoted Tort Diail, 23, as saying that the situation in Yemen’s capital had become unsustainable, and that he had been terrified to leave as Shiite Houthi rebels carried out attacks, only to be met with Saudi-led airstrikes. Speaking to the Daily from Oman after his escape, he said he was “very scared” by the shooting noises in Sanaa, where he had been studying Arabic and Islamic studies for a year, since it was unlike anything he had ever heard before. Of the 20 Cham students studying in Yemen, only 16 were evacuated, government official and Cham leader Othsman Hassan told the newspaper, saying that four remained in a safer part of Yemen to complete their exams. The 16 who left were taken to the border by bus, organized by the Singaporean government, before being picked up by officials from the Malaysian Embassy. The Al Serkal Company, whose Emirati founder also funded the construction of Cambodia’s largest and only Ottoman-style mosque, was behind efforts to fly the students from Oman back to Cambodia, the Daily reported. Yemen has remained in turmoil since last September, when Houthi militants overran Sanaa, from which they have since sought to extend their influence to other parts of the fractious country. While Saudi Arabia says the anti-Houthi campaign comes in response to appeals by embattled President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi for a military intervention, the Houthis denounce the offensive as an unwarranted "Saudi-American onslaught" on Yemen.

14 April 2015 AA