UNICEF Regional goodwill Ambassador for the Middle East and North Africa Mahmoud Kabil called on parties involved in the conflict in northern Yemen, Sa'adah province to search their soul and conscience and allow urgent aid to reach displaced children in the conflict zone.
"The death and suffering of these children is killing your future and that of your country,” said Kabil in the press conference that the UNICEF held today. Kabil has just concluded a three-day visit to Yemen where he met with children affected by the ongoing fighting in the north. Kabil visited al-Mazrak camp, in Hajjah governorate, some 20 km away from the Sa'adah governorate where the conflict is raging.
"I saw children on the brink of death due to acute malnutrition and dehydration. I have never seen such a sight since I became UNICEF regional goodwill ambassador in 2003. Not when I was in Darfur five years back, or anywhere in this region."
Kabil, the Egyptian actor, called on the authorities in both Saudi Arabia and Yemen to open humanitarian corridors to help and provide aid and food to the IDPs. He also expressed his deep concerns about the circumstances he described as tough that the people trapped in the war zone live under. He also called on al-Houthis to have mercy n children.
UNICEF has screened over a thousand children in the camp and found that 10 per cent of them were severely malnourished and needed immediate treatment.
The escalation of the fighting in the north since August has uprooted more than 50,000 people and brought the total number of internal displaced persons(IDPs) by the fighting to 150,000 since 2004. Latest estimates from Hajjah governorate talk of up to 14,000 IDPs in al-Mazrak camp and the areas around it. The area lacks basic infrastructures and the influx of newcomers fleeing the fighting is continuous.
Lack of security has constrained access to the affected populations and UNICEF, along with other humanitarian agencies, has repeatedly called for safe corridors to deliver urgently needed supplies.
Thousands more people remain trapped in the governorate of Sa'adah where most of the hostilities are taking place, with barely any humanitarian assistance. Women and children continue to bear the burden of this conflict.
Earlier, Mahmoud Kabil met with the Minister of Social Affairs and Labor and the Minister of Health and Population, as well as with the governor of Hajjah to discuss the current crisis and its impact on humanitarian and development efforts in Yemen.
UNICEF's focus in support of IDPs the provision of safe drinking water, hygiene and sanitation, protection of children as well as educational support. UNICEF has appealed for 6 million dollars. Only 2.9 million have been received or committed so far.
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