UAE's admirable initiative in helping friendly countries like Yemen and Sudan save their citizens from coronavirus

Arab Ambassadors praised the UAE's humanitarian stance and its ongoing support for other countries, stressing that its initiative in China is a major humanitarian gesture not alien to the country, which is always the first to lead charitable and humanitarian work.

“A quantity of welcome from the moment we arrived with the plane from Wuhan Airport until at Abu Dhabi Airport, and from there to the Emirates Humanitarian City, which beautifully equipped to receive us, was a surprise that I did not expect.” Said Ahmed Fateh Al-Aleem, a Sudanese student evacuated from China by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) special plane, revealing a great happiness for the kind welcome and the generous hospitality, humility and humanity of the Emirates people. 

About 200 Sudanese from China left the country to UAE, on Emirates Airlines, to put them in quarantine for 25 days, before returning to the capital, Khartoum. Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, has spared no effort to help the most troubled countries like Sudan and Yemen to save and protect their citizens from the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in China. The United Arab Emirates has coordinated with Sudan, Yemen and other Arab embassies for the evacuation of their nationals from Wuhan City in China. The evacuees have been transferred at the newly established Emirates Humanitarian City in the UAE, and will undergo medical testing and monitoring to ensure their health and safety before they go back to their home countries. Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, immediately decided to establish a healthcare facility that will provide the individuals hailing from neighbouring countries with the necessary monitoring and preventative medical care following their evacuation from the epicentre of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The UAE’s decision to transfer stuck Sudanese and Yemeni students comes as part of an unending effort to help the Arab brothers. Several Arab ambassadors praised the UAE’s humanitarian initiative to evacuate citizens of friendly countries from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus, COVID-19, outbreak, and host them in the UAE humanitarian city. The ambassadors added that this humanitarian gesture is not strange for the UAE’s leadership, government and people, who always lead in providing humanitarian assistance everywhere. Fahad Saeed Al Menhali, Ambassador of Yemen to the UAE, thanked Abu Dhabi and its leadership for the humanitarian initiative, stressing that the Yemeni people will remember its supportive stance to stand by them during good and bad times. Also, Mohammed Amin Abdulla Al Kareb, Ambassador of Sudan to the UAE, praised the rapid response of the UAE’s government to the request of the Sudanese government to evacuate Sudanese students studying in China. Ambassador Al-Kareb expressed the appreciation of the Sudan Government and the families of the students, who thanked the UAE’s leadership for its humanitarian actions while expressing his gratitude to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, UAE Ambassador to Sudan, and the staff of the UAE Embassy in Khartoum, who fully coordinated with the Sudanese government during the evacuation process.

Zaid Ezzeddine Mohammed Nouri, Ambassador of Iraq to the UAE, confirmed that humanitarian initiatives are not strange to the UAE, which is always responding to urgent humanitarian demands, especially those related to Arab affairs and solidarity. He praised the UAE’s efforts to help Iraqis who are in China and suffering from difficult conditions and thanked the UAE’s leadership, government and people for their humanitarian stances and their keenness to cooperate with Iraq while affirming that the UAE leads in supporting Iraq after 2003. The World Health Organization on Monday sent its first planeload of assistance to Iran to help fight coronavirus, dispatching six medics with tonnes of medical equipment and test kits aboard a UAE military aircraft. As the supplies worth more than $300,000 - including gloves, surgical masks and respirators - were loaded onto the United Arab Emirates military transport plane in Dubai. WHO operations manager Nevien Attalla said some 15,000 health workers in Iran would benefit from the UAE supplies which were the "first big shipment which supports the response to coronavirus".

The Emirati's efforts to help humanity overcome the Coronavirus challenge continue uninterruptedly. Mohamed Bin Zayed and Bill Gates, Co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, yesterday discussed over a phone call, ways to enhance humanitarian cooperation in health as well as disease and epidemic control in the light of the success they have achieved in several previous global partnerships and initiatives. According to WAM news agency, Sheikh Mohamed and Gates also spoke about the possibility of intensifying cooperation and joint work between UAE’s humanitarian institutions and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to tackle the spread of the coronavirus, COVID-19, and support the efforts of the international community, governments and societies to limit its spread. They reviewed the most important humanitarian initiatives and partnerships between the two sides which aim to reduce the spread of diseases and epidemics that hinder social and economic development.