The exit permit was issued by the Omani authorities on Wednesday (October 10) at around 03.00 am local time following an intensive approach of the Indonesian Foreign Ministry and its embassy officials in Muscat to the Omani authorities, the ministry said.
The ministry`s press statement, made available to Antara on Thursday, further said that the students had left Salalah, the capital and largest city of the southern Omani governorate of Dhofar, to go to Oman`s border with Yemen.
Accompanied by several officials of the Indonesian Embassies in Muscat and Sana`a, the 178 students, including 38 female students and a baby, were transported by four buses to reach the Yemeni cities of Tareem and Al Mukalla in Hadhramaut Province.
A majority of the students` main destination was Tareem, and the others wished to go to a small town called Al Mukalla.
The Indonesian students were stranded in Salalah for several days after the Omani authorities prohibited the foreign nationals from crossing over to Yemen through their administrative areas, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry revealed.
"The permit was just issued for our citizens, who were in Salalah. In the future, we will again discuss this matter with the Omani authorities," said Lalu Muhamad Iqbal, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry`s Indonesian Citizen Protection Director.
Iqbal was assigned by Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi to Salalah for talks about matters related to the permit for the Indonesian students with the Omani authorities.
For smoothing the negotiation process, the Indonesian Embassy officials in Muscat verified and collected the data of the students wanting to leave Oman for Yemen, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry said.
The Indonesian government has so far evacuated almost 2,000 Indonesian students from Yemen when the civil war started in the country in May 2015. However, there are still around 1,000 Indonesian students in Yemen.
They are studying at Islamic boarding schools and a university in Hadhramaut Province.
Reporting by Yuni Arisandy
Editing by Rahmad Nasution
Reporter: Antara
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
