Warnings of humanitarian crisis as Yemen's civil war rolls on
The UN and private aid agencies say with fighting on the ground and a Saudi-led air campaign pounding the ports, food and clean water are running short in Yemen.
The UN and private aid agencies say with fighting on the ground and a Saudi-led air campaign pounding the ports, food and clean water are running short in Yemen.
Fighting in Yemen has displaced more than 100,000 people and killed at least 74 children over the past two weeks, and the UN warns the humanitarian situation is set to get a lot worse.
UNICEF, the United Nations children鈥檚 agency, said Monday Yemen's civil war has disrupted water supplies and overburdened the country鈥檚 poorly equipped hospitals. UNICEF鈥檚 Yemen representative, Julien Harneis, warned that children are especially vulnerable.
"They are being killed, maimed and forced to flee their homes, their health threatened and their education interrupted," she said in a statement.
As the Middle East鈥檚 most impoverished country, Yemen struggled to care for its people even before its latest civil war broke out, which involves a foreign coalition led by Saudi Arabia on the side of the country's exiled president.
UNICEF warns that major urban centers, including the southern city of Aden, may soon run out of drinking water. Sewage is overflowing in Aden and other locations, increasing the chances of a disease outbreak among the population.聽
The聽Saudi-led airstrikes聽and skirmishes at the country鈥檚 airports and seaports aren't helping, impeding access to food and other basic supplies.
Reuters reports that the International Committee of the Red Cross plans to fly two planes carrying a total of 48 tons of medical supplies and other aid to Yemen over the next two days. Yet organizing the flights wasn鈥檛 easy:
ICRC spokeswoman Marie Claire Feghali told Reuters that it planned to fly the first plane, which is being loaded in Jordan with 16 tons of medical supplies, to Yemen on Wednesday. The second plane, which will carry medical aid and other equipment including tents and generators, is being loaded in Geneva and will fly on Thursday.
Analysts and aid workers told the Washington Post that the conflict could produce waves of refugees similar to the flight of Syrians from that country鈥檚 civil war.
So far the conflict has shown few signs of letting up. The Associated Press reports that fighting intensified in Aden on Monday, with the Houthis and their allies making their strongest push yet to take control of the city. The clashes were so intense, according to the AP, that many bodies were left in the streets.