GENEVA: Fighting in northern Yemen is spreading and the five-year conflict has now driven 250,000 people from their homes, deepening the humanitarian crisis, the United Nations refugee agency said on Friday.
The number of displaced in the Arab world’s poorest country has doubled since August when the latest round of fighting between the government and Houthi rebels erupted, it said.
“The fighting has gradually moved from Saada city and its surroundings toward the northwest,” Andrej Mahecic, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, told a news briefing.
This had led to “a steady influx” of around 1,000 families, some 7,000 people, arriving in Hajjah province each week over the past six weeks, he said. Most families were from Saada, where fighting between Yemeni troops and rebels has flared on and off since 2004.
Aid agencies including the UNHCR and International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) say that fighting prevents them from delivering aid to Saada province.
It is increasingly difficult for the displaced to make ends meet and get access to health and education, Mahecic said.
“Most of them fled leaving behind almost all of their belongings and cattle which was the pillar of their livelihoods and primary source of income.” .
The lack of adequate shelter for the displaced in Hajjah is a major concern, despite the existence of three camps, he said.
“Many displaced Yemenis are in makeshift sites which have mushroomed along the roads leading to the camps,” Mahecic said, adding that the situation was also difficult in Amran province.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, speaking at an international conference on Yemen in London on Wednesday, said that the country of 23 million must act to push through reforms to tackle the root causes of poverty and instability fueling militancy in the country.
