UN calls for Saudi-led coalition to reopen aid lifeline to Yemen
madaresharghi The United Nations urged the Saudi-led coalition fighting to reopen an aid lifeline to bring imported food and medicine into Yemen, whose seven million people are facing famine in a country that is already the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. The Saudi-led military coalition said on Monday it would close all air, land and sea […]
The United Nations urged the Saudi-led coalition fighting to reopen an aid lifeline to bring imported food and medicine into Yemen, whose seven million people are facing famine in a country that is already the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
The Saudi-led military coalition said on Monday it would close all air, land and sea ports to Yemen, according to Reuters. This after the Yemeni Army targeted an international airport near the Saudi capital. Humanitarian operations — including UN aid flights — are currently “blocked” because air and sea ports in Yemen are closed, Jens Laerke of the UN Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) told a news briefing on Tuesday.
The Saudi-led coalition has told the world body to “inform all commercial vessels at Hodeidah and Saleef ports to leave”, he said, referring to Red Sea ports controlled by Yemen’s Ansarullah movement.
“We call for all air and sea ports to remain open to ensure food, fuel and medicines can enter the country,” Laerke said.
“The situation is catastrophic in Yemen, it is the worst food crisis we are looking at in the world today, seven million people are on the brink of famine, millions of people being kept alive by our humanitarian operations,” he said.
Rupert Colville, UN human rights spokesman, said the office would study whether the blockade amounted to “collective punishment”, banned under international law but hoped that it would be temporary.
The UN human rights office was deeply concerned at a series of attacks in Yemen over the past week that have killed dozens of civilians, including children, at markets and homes, he said.
These included at least nine air strikes on the city of Sana’a since Saturday.
The World Health Organization (WHO) also called for medical aid to be allowed to enter Yemen to combat a cholera epidemic which has caused 908,702 suspected cases and 2,194 deaths since the outbreak began in April, WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said.