The British government says it has closed its embassy in Yemen and evacuated all its diplomatic staff amid turmoil there following Shia rebels seizing power in the Arab world’s poorest country.
In a statement on Wednesday, the minister for the Middle East, Tobias Ellwood, said all embassy staff in Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, left early on Wednesday morning.
The statement also calls for all British nationals to “leave immediately”.
The UK’s decision comes after the US embassy there closed and America evacuated its staff.
US employees said their mission had been getting rid of documents and weapons and the evacuation had been in progress over the past few days.
The US ambassador had informed them that Washington may ask the Turkish or Algerian embassies in Sana’a to look after US interests in the country while the embassy was closed.
“The ambassador and the rest of the staff will leave by Wednesday evening,” one employee, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.
Employees at the French and German embassies said their missions had also been getting rid of documents and have given local staff two months’ paid leave. But there was no immediate word on the missions closing down.
The US embassy had reduced its staff after Shia Muslim rebels from the Houthi movement moved against the president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, last month, capturing his presidential office and confining him to his private residence.
Hadi and his government subsequently resigned.
On Sunday, the US embassy said on its website it had “suspended all consular services until further notice“, citing the security situation in Sana’a.
Yemen has been in crisis for months, with Shiite Houthi rebels besieging the capital and then taking control.