ICRC President: We Will Expand Our Activities in Yemen Due to Disastrous Situation
Local Editor
The President of the International Committee of the Red Cross [ICRC], Peter Maurer, said that the ICRC will expand its activities in Yemen, as he noted in a press conference on Sunday.
In a press conference in Yemen’s capital of Sana’a on Sunday, Maurer said that he is optimistic that the visit will result in doubling the ICRC efforts to face this "disastrous" situation as what the ICRC and its partners currently provide cannot cover all the humanitarian aspects, especially that the country is under siege.
"The international parties must be aware of the blockade which caused disastrous situations and allow access for goods and medicines into Yemen," he said.
Furthermore, he spoke about the bad situations of the health sector in Yemen, urging all parties to positively deal with the ICRC and provide support for its teams to perform their humanitarian role impartially.
He said that the ICRC is committed to work according to the international humanitarian law, and he also urged parties to abide by the international humanitarian law.
A Saudi-led coalition backed by the United States has been carrying out airstrikes against Yemen since March. The airstrikes have not been authorized by the UN.
The US-led Saudi military aggression against Yemen began on March 26 - without a UN mandate - in a bid to restore power to the country’s fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who is a staunch ally of Saudi Arabia, and to undermine Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement which is currently responding to the attacks on the country.
The death toll of civilians has risen to at least 1,916, with another 4,186 civilians wounded since the escalation of the conflict in March, according to the United Nations [UN] recently last week.
