Local Editor
Aid organizations in Yemen expressed concern about high numbers of civilian casualties in recent military escalation.
“We are shocked and saddened to hear about the deaths of as many as 31 civilians, and 12 other people injured, in strikes on Al Jawf governorate in northern Yemen on 15 February,” a group of 11 aid organizations said in a joint statement.
The group including Oxfam, Save the Children and CARE also called on warring parties “to uphold the laws of war, to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure including hospitals, and to provide safe and unhindered access to displaced families so that they can access food, water, shelter and other assistance.”
The statement urged warring parties “not to jeopardize the recent progress and reduction in violence, to agree a nationwide ceasefire and restart long-overdue peace talks.”
“Yemen needs a political solution to end the violence and suffering once and for all,” the aid organizations stressed.
Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the government of Hadi back to power and crushing Ansarullah.
The US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, estimates that the war has claimed more than 100,000 lives over the past nearly five years.
The UN says over 24 million Yemenis are in dire need of humanitarian aid, including 10 million suffering from extreme levels of hunger.
Source: Yemenwatch.net
