.Tens of thousands stranded by Yemen fighting
SAN'A, Yemen (AP) - Tens of thousands of Yemenis displaced by warfare between the government and Shiite rebels are stranded around the war zone with aid agencies unable to reach them because of the intensified fighting, U.N. officials and rights activists said.
The humanitarian crisis has been worsened by tribes in the region robbing relief convoys as well as heavy rains that have washed away tents in some camps, they said.
Yehia Abdel-Wahab, a 46-year old farmer, told The Associated Press on Thursday that his family and 16 others were living in the open after fleeing the fighting in northern Yemen.
"We are living on handouts from the locals," he said by telephone, saying he, his mother and his three children have been living for days under a tree in the Batna region about 60 miles (100 kilometers) north of San'a and that no aid has reached the area.
"It is getting cold and we are missing many things," he said. "We are suffering from neglect. We are only getting promises made of air."
Abdel-Wahab fled his home in the region of Horf Sufyan further north. He stopped first at a makeshift camp nearby, but then fled further south because the fighting was spreading. Two days after he left the makeshift camp, it was hit by government warplanes in a strike that killed nearly 80 people.
Fighting has dramatically escalated since August between government forces and the rebels, causing turmoil in a nearly 160-mile (260-kilometer), mountainous stretch between Yemen's capital San'a and the Saudi border. Even before the current escalation, the fighting had displaced some 150,000 people since it began in 2004.
Since August, tens of thousands more have been forced to flee their homes, but exact numbers are unclear, a reflection of the chaos. Government officials put the number at around 60,000, while the international aid agency OXFAM estimates them at 100,000.
The U.N. refugee agency and International Red Cross say they have about 37,000 newly displaced people who have been registered and are receiving assistance, many in camps around the north.
Thousands more are stranded around the area, some living along roadsides, some trapped in Saada - the home of the rebels, which has been at the center of fighting. Two cease-fires declared by the government in the past month fell apart within hours.
Up to 30,000 are trapped north of Saada near the Saudi border, said Laure Chedraoui, a spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee agency said. The UNHCR has appealed to Saudi Arabia and Yemen to let relief supplies across its border to reach them but has yet to get permission, she said.
Furthermore, old camps that were holding those who fled earlier fighting have filled with a new influx and are inaccessible because of the turmoil, she said.
Officials say they are struggling to set up new camps while dealing with declining supplies.
Newly displaced people continue to trickle daily into the established camps in Saada province and the neighboring province of Amran, some walking for days before making it to refuge, Andrej Mahecic, a UNHCR spokesman said in Geneva on Tuesday.
Tents in one camp housing 5,000 people in neighboring Hajjah province were damaged by heavy rains, leaving hundreds of families without shelter, Mahecic said.
Human rights activist Mahmoud Taha said the authorities and international aid agencies failed to set up a new camp in the Amran area to absorb the stream of fleeing civilians because a local tribe refused to give the land for the camp without charging a fee.
Taha, an Amran resident, said some tribes are also robbing aid convoys - taking at least seven trucks of supplies.
The rebellion started in 2004 when Shiite fighters took up arms against the central government complaining of neglect, and widening influence of hard-line Sunni fundamentalists, some of whom consider Shiites as heretics.
MyWay
When and if Yemen falls, and kicks off the most bloody regional war of the 20th century, will we have the money to protect our interest, or should we sit back and watch
The humanitarian crisis has been worsened by tribes in the region robbing relief convoys as well as heavy rains that have washed away tents in some camps, they said.
Yehia Abdel-Wahab, a 46-year old farmer, told The Associated Press on Thursday that his family and 16 others were living in the open after fleeing the fighting in northern Yemen.
"We are living on handouts from the locals," he said by telephone, saying he, his mother and his three children have been living for days under a tree in the Batna region about 60 miles (100 kilometers) north of San'a and that no aid has reached the area.
"It is getting cold and we are missing many things," he said. "We are suffering from neglect. We are only getting promises made of air."
Abdel-Wahab fled his home in the region of Horf Sufyan further north. He stopped first at a makeshift camp nearby, but then fled further south because the fighting was spreading. Two days after he left the makeshift camp, it was hit by government warplanes in a strike that killed nearly 80 people.
Fighting has dramatically escalated since August between government forces and the rebels, causing turmoil in a nearly 160-mile (260-kilometer), mountainous stretch between Yemen's capital San'a and the Saudi border. Even before the current escalation, the fighting had displaced some 150,000 people since it began in 2004.
Since August, tens of thousands more have been forced to flee their homes, but exact numbers are unclear, a reflection of the chaos. Government officials put the number at around 60,000, while the international aid agency OXFAM estimates them at 100,000.
The U.N. refugee agency and International Red Cross say they have about 37,000 newly displaced people who have been registered and are receiving assistance, many in camps around the north.
Thousands more are stranded around the area, some living along roadsides, some trapped in Saada - the home of the rebels, which has been at the center of fighting. Two cease-fires declared by the government in the past month fell apart within hours.
Up to 30,000 are trapped north of Saada near the Saudi border, said Laure Chedraoui, a spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee agency said. The UNHCR has appealed to Saudi Arabia and Yemen to let relief supplies across its border to reach them but has yet to get permission, she said.
Furthermore, old camps that were holding those who fled earlier fighting have filled with a new influx and are inaccessible because of the turmoil, she said.
Officials say they are struggling to set up new camps while dealing with declining supplies.
Newly displaced people continue to trickle daily into the established camps in Saada province and the neighboring province of Amran, some walking for days before making it to refuge, Andrej Mahecic, a UNHCR spokesman said in Geneva on Tuesday.
Tents in one camp housing 5,000 people in neighboring Hajjah province were damaged by heavy rains, leaving hundreds of families without shelter, Mahecic said.
Human rights activist Mahmoud Taha said the authorities and international aid agencies failed to set up a new camp in the Amran area to absorb the stream of fleeing civilians because a local tribe refused to give the land for the camp without charging a fee.
Taha, an Amran resident, said some tribes are also robbing aid convoys - taking at least seven trucks of supplies.
The rebellion started in 2004 when Shiite fighters took up arms against the central government complaining of neglect, and widening influence of hard-line Sunni fundamentalists, some of whom consider Shiites as heretics.
MyWay
When and if Yemen falls, and kicks off the most bloody regional war of the 20th century, will we have the money to protect our interest, or should we sit back and watch
posted by madtom at 7:31 PM
7 Comments:
That's the benefit of having bought and paid for the Saudi Royals. Let them fight Arab style and pretend not to notice. I don't think Iran will have the balls or ability to get involved, and if they do, Israel will have a field day. I don't really know, but it sounds reasonable to me.
I don't know why we have the idea that war is a bad thing. It's gotten humans this far and the longer you try avoiding them or fight them 'humanely', the more people suffer. When you have violently opposing views, eventually you are going to have a deck clearing brawl. I have history books just full of such times. I know, the UN can solve it for us! His O'liness is chairing the venerable Security Council. Let him lay hands on the hotspots of that big globe they have in the lobby....
Unrelated, but I told ya so. Removal of Honduran president was done in accordance with the Honduran law according to a report issued by the Law Library of Congress.
Sorry, but I am in one pissy mood after watching that asshat perform at the UN the last two days. I even did what I thought I would never do again--- sent money to the RNC.
I watched a Spanish language show tonight where they tried to explain what "is" is according to that constitution, but that is all it was. We are losing and Chavez is gaining, now his got Lula on his side, that makes it Lula Chavez Ortega and all the little imphs out there. That coup regime don't have a chance, not to mention the repression going on in the streets of Honduras...I'm telling you the doors have been opened and our enemies are waking right through. You know sometimes the right thing is the wrong thing, no matter how you parse it.
I would save your money, who are you supporting, Palin?
You have to be kidding.
Anybody but a democrat at this point. I don't like, I will never admit after this, but it's getting desperate. Palin? Hadn't even occurred to me. I haven't figured that one out yet.
you're a Rush listener-- what's is he up to? On leno and recorded an episode of Family Guy? He testing the waters to see just how far right the country is ready to turn?
Either he was not on today, or I missed the show, I don't remember which. They are all counting their chickens...but who knows. I have to tell you the truth, I hope the Rush wing of the GOP does not end up taking over..Do they think they can win or gain in 2010, yes, even I think so, O is going down the tubs and the public usually prefers a divided government, The GOP just might take back the house, I wouldn't bet against it just yet. And I am not sure just how to put it into words. I don't have any concrete evidence, It's hard to point to a single story, but the "powers that be", or "the man", you know "them" seemed to have tuned on O. It's so many little things I see. I mean just yesterday they charged five commissioners from Broward (read democrat central)with wire fraud, Acorn went down, the generals are revolting...I don't know who they are, "the Jews" the "Carleton group" but something has changed...
I did not understand the Leno or Family Guy reference?
I read yesterday that Rush was on Jay leno and was in LA doing the voice over for an episode of Fox TV's animated show the Family Guy--- If you aren't familiar with it, it's one of the most 'out there' shock for a laugh shows on TV. Offensive entertainment that I like some times.
I sense a change, too, but I think it goes deeper than merely wanting divided government. I think people are waking up the fact that we have screwed ourselves with all these entitlements and mandates that we can't pay and have been engaged in generational theft for some time. Government is way too big and complicated, rewards incompetence and gone beyond our ability to cope. I know people used to just dismiss me when I went on a rant about intrusive and massive federal government making us slaves to debt and regulation---- but now they nod their heads. We've been through this before and government used it to expand power just as they are doing now, but this time there really is NO MONEY and it's pretty apparent why. It's time to stop digging, at least. On the other side, the never say die radical leftists of the 60s are seeing it all slip away. Turns out they really are as clueless as I thought! O is their perfect representative--- lots of rhetoric and feel good terms, anti capitalist, willing to lie to effect the change the rest of us are too stupid to realize is in our best interests--- I'm not kidding when I way I fear for his safety because the is quickly becoming a liability and the ONLY way they can do all the things they have been scheming to do since their student radical days is for him to be taken out by some apparent dittohead, birther, tea bagger types. The result of that would be a huge collective guilt trip for killing our first black president followed by our collective suicide by legislation.
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