Local Editor
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) expressed concern regarding reports that the U.S. is considering increasing military assistance to the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthi revolutionaries in Yemen.
IRC’s Yemen Country Director, Mohamed El Montassir Hussein, said “We are particularly alarmed by emerging information that this attack could target Yemen’s western port city of Hodeidah, where 80% of all imports enter Yemen.”
Hussein added “Any disruption of these port facilities would have a catastrophic impact on the people of Yemen – denying food and medicine to civilians already suffering immeasurably after two years of war.”
The IRC and other humanitarian actors already face major operational obstacles created by the ongoing conflict. Sea and air blockades that are already in place mean essential humanitarian supplies in Yemen are scarce, and will become even scarcer if these attacks go ahead. An attack will also lead to all shipping vessels being be diverted, overwhelming the capacity of other ports in Aden and Mokala.
The IRC stressed that the solution to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen is not more conflict, and urging all parties to get back to the peace process.
The organization also called on the U.S. “to use its influence to restart a peace process rather than fuel more conflict adding that “17 million people – almost two thirds of the population – are critically food insecure and parts of the country are on the brink of famine.”
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
