UN, Aid Groups Plead for Yemeni Civilians' Safety
by Lisa Schlein March 31, 2015
The United Nations and international aid agencies are expressing alarm at the rapidly deteriorating human rights and humanitarian situation in Yemen, as Saudi-led airstrikes targeted Houthi Shi'ite rebels for the sixth day Tuesday.
Airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition of Middle Eastern forces are taking a heavy toll on Yemen's civilian population. The agencies are calling on the warring parties to protect civilians and allow desperately needed medical and other aid to reach the victims.
One of the agencies, the International Organization for Migration, has 400 staff members in the country, many of whom were at the Al-Mazraq camp in northern Yemen, when it came under fire Monday, killing at least 45 people and wounding about 200.
IOM spokesman Joel Millman said, "We are told that our staff spent the whole night hunkered down. Bombing raids; Internet and phone links are difficult. But they are out today doing what they can in hospitals, restoring water systems.
'We have been reached by the governments of Sri Lanka, Sudan, Ethiopia and several others to begin operations to help evacuate some of their personnel in the country,' Millman added.
Humanitarian workers said the bombing had targeted a nearby military installation in the northern district of Harad, but the circumstances involved in the attack were not clear.
Targeting rebels
The airstrikes are meant to halt the momentum of the Iranian-backed Shi'ite Houthi rebels, who have advanced toward the country's main southern city, Aden, and return to power Yemen President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
The airstrikes are causing many people to flee their homes as well.
UNHCR spokesman William Spindler told VOA his agency has registered about 250,000 refugees in Yemen, mostly Somalis. But Ethiopians, Iraqis and other nationalities have registered as well. He said previous fighting had displaced about 340,000 people in Yemen.
The International Committee of the Red Cross is also appealing to the warring factions to allow delivery of supplies needed to treat casualties from a week of deadly clashes and airstrikes.
Meanwhile, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad al-Hussein said the killing of so many innocent civilians is unacceptable and condemns all attacks on hospitals and other medical facilities, noting they are protected under international law.
Also Tuesday, Iran said it sent aid to Yemen but denied shipping weapons to the country.
The state-run IRNA news agency quoted a foreign ministry spokeswoman as saying allegations of arms shipments to the Houthis were 'complete fabrications.'
Saudi Arabia, Yemen history
A former professor at the University of Aleppo in Syria, Azad Hemoto, told VOA's Kurdish service the tensions between Saudi Arabia and Yemen are nothing new.
"Yemen and Saudi Arabia have a history of strained relations,' Hemoto said. 'For example, in 1936 Saudi Arabia annexed 'Asir region from Yemen. Also, there is an economic incentive for Saudi Arabia to attack Yemen. There are many Yemeni workers from Hadhramout who work in Yemen, and they have been burdensome for the Saudis. So there are other reasons, beyond the Shi'ite-Sunni factor, that drive Saudi Arabia's policies in Yemen."
Hemoto also said the current conflict is really a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
"But it is not only about Yemen; it is about the entire Gulf region,' he said. 'The internal environment in Yemen presented an opportunity for both sides [Iran and Saudi] to carry out this proxy war."
After seizing the Yemeni capital, Sana'a, last year, the Houthis have advanced toward the southern port city of Aden, the economic center of the impoverished nation.
The insurgents shelled Aden with artillery Monday as they pushed into the northeastern outskirts of the city, while Saudi fighter jets continued to pound rebel positions. Officials said the Houthis and supporters of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh battled local militias.
The country's current president, Hadi, had declared Aden the provisional capital before he fled the country for Riyadh last week. Hadi's aides said he has no immediate plans to return there.
Some material for this report came from Reuters and AP.
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