American Citizens In Yemen Question Government's Inaction
LU STOUT: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. You're watching News Stream. And these are your world headlines. Now the international organization for migration says it is learning of three migrant boats in distress in international waters. It comes as people are being rescued off the Greek island of Rhodes. Now a Greek official say a ship was carrying at least 83 people when it sank. 57 have been saved. And rescue crews continue their search. Now meanwhile, the search for survivors of another migrant shipwreck is underway. Hundreds have been missing since their boat capsized on Saturday. A survivor tells investigators almost 1,000 people were on board the boat when it sank. In South Africa, the Zulu king has denied allegations that he fueled the recent spate of anti-immigrant violence in Durban and Johannesburg by calling on foreign nationals to leave the country. The Zulu king says his speech was taken out of context by the media. He says that he instead urged all Zulus to protect foreign nationals. Now Saudi-led airstrikes hit a missile depot in the Yemeni capital, setting off a huge explosion. Now this footage was captured by witnesses near the rebel base in Sanaa. Reuters reports seven civilians were killed, dozens were wounded. The violence in Yemen has thousands of people struggling to flee the country. And many Americans say their government has done nothing to help them get out. Our senior international correspondent Nima Elbagir went into the besieged city of Aden recently. And she spoke exclusively with some Americans who have been stranded there. And she joins us now from Djibouti. And Nima, how is it that American citizens have been trapped in the chaos in Yemen?</s>NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's the question, Kristie, that many people are asking themselves. They find it really incomprehensible that their government could have, as they put it to us, abandoned them in this kind of situation as it continues to deteriorate. Take a look at this.</s>ELBAGIR: On our way out of Aden, Yemen's second largest city is too dangerous to overnight in. On the journey in, we've been warned we must leave before dark. We weren't the only ones trying to get out. For these people desperate to leave this besieged city, our ship was an unexpected lifeline. Too scared to sleep at home, many of them were living on the streets outside the port.</s>MUNA MUNASER, U.S. CITIZEN: It was just bombs all the time, gunshots, people are running down the streets.</s>ELBAGIR: Mona Monasad (ph) is from Buffalo in upstate New York. She was visiting her sick father when the war erupted around her.</s>MUNASER: I called the Riyadh embassy. I asked them to help us, that there was about 75 families that were waiting at Damina (ph). My family has been here...</s>ELBAGIR: At the port.</s>MUNASER: At the port. My family has been living there for two weeks. We ran out money. We ran out of food. We ran out shelter. We were just sitting there waiting for someone to come and say, OK, where's the Americans, let's pick them up.</s>ELBAGIR: But that didn't happen. And Muna and her family had to pay $3,000 to port officials just to be allowed to leave Aden. She gave them everything she had.</s>MUNASER: And I want to ask my president Mr. Obama, how come we are a third class citizens. How come our country did not come and rescue us?</s>ELBAGIR: Muna says there are 75 more American families still stranded in Aden, uncertain whether they will make it out alive. The U.S. government isn't evacuating its citizens at this time. After a day-and-a-half at sea, we reach DJibouti port. For those on board, it's been a grueling journey, but finally they are safe. For Muna and the other Americans, it's time to show their dark blue passports.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you get off this bus, you're going to look for us next to the American flag.</s>ELBAGIR: We've seen other governments go in and get their nationals, why has the U.S. not been able to do this?</s>CHRISTINA HIGGINS, DEPUTY CHIEF OF MISSION, U.S. EMB ASSY IN DJIBOUTI: As you see, it's a very difficult situation. You've just returned from Yemen. It's very fluid. We have one of the branches of al Qaeda, that's especially active. There's the Houthis. Neither of these two groups friendly to U.S. citizens. We've had to weigh very, very carefully what is the safest way, the best way for us to help them. For many U.S. citizens that's going to mean sheltering in place, for other U.S. citizens we are very actively working at getting information to them on different avenues for travel out of Yemen. And then of course when they reach places like Djibouti, we're here right away at the port meeting them when they get off the boat to provide immediate assistance, food, water, an help them get their papers processed to travel home.</s>ELBAGIR: For Muna and her daughters, at least the ordeal is now over. For those left behind, it's unclear when and if help will be on its way.</s>ELBAGIR: We don't have any definitive numbers for how many Americans are still trapped inside Yemen, but we know they are still there. And we know they're desperate to get out, Kristie.</s>LU STOUT: Of course. In your report, we learned that the people who managed to flee Yemen, they were too scared to sleep at home because of the airstrikes. In fact, they had to sleep outside. So I'm trying to understand from the perspective of the scores of civilians who remained in Aden, when there's an airstrike what happens? Are there any safe places, any safe zones at all for them?</s>ELBAGIR: Unfortunately there is nowhere to go. You just have to trust, as one person told us, that the airstrikes will hit their target. But of course it's not just the airstrikes -- it's the airstrikes, it's the shelling, it's the snipers. There were so many streets in Aden down which we couldn't drive. You could see they were completely deserted. When we had to go down one of them, we had to speed up and just hope as we heard those pops of sniper fire going off that it wouldn't hit -- imagine having to live with that. The reality is that the fighting in Aden in the whole of Yemen, it is street by street. It is right in there with the civilian population. And that is what is pushing up the death toll, Kristie.</s>LU STOUT: Powerful reporting on the reality of war inside Yemen. Nima Elbagir reporting live for us. Thank you, Nima. Now from scoring 11 holes in one in golf to driving at the age of three, like most nations North Korea likes to tout the accomplishments of its leader. We'll tell you what's its praising Jim Jong-un now after the break.