ICRC Bulletin - Yemen: ICRC and Yemen Red Crescent aid thousands as fighting continues

The current armed clashes in northern Yemen have continued for almost three weeks, and the humanitarian situation is deteriorating. Thousands have fled, taking refuge with relatives or host families. Makeshift shelters have been set up in neighbouring areas, but some people have fled as far as the capital Sana'a, more than 300 km to the south.

The ICRC and the Yemen Red Crescent Society have registered over 25,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in the provinces of Sa'ada and Amran and staff of the two organizations are working around the clock to respond to the most urgent needs.

"The dire humanitarian situation is hitting women and children especially hard,” said Daniel Gagnon, the ICRC's acting head of sub-delegation in Sa'ada. But ICRC and Yemen Red Crescent aid is making a difference. "Some of us have already received mattresses, gas bottles and food," said a displaced woman in Wadi Khaiwan. She and her family had to flee al-Harf city in the north of Amran province. "This helps us get along and makes us less of a burden to our host families and neighbours, who have very little themselves."

In and around Sa'ada city, over 4,200 people are living in Al-Ihsa', Sam and Al-Talh camps, which are run by the ICRC and the Yemen Red Crescent. But as Daniel Gagnon points out, "there are thousands more in Sa’ada governorate who need our help.”

Over 5,500 people are staying with host families in Sa'ada city. As the influx continues, the ICRC is looking for ways of accommodating more. "What the people need most is clean water, food and shelter,” said Daniel Gagnon. "With commercial traffic paralyzed because of the fighting, people find it difficult to get supplies.”

The conflict makes it difficult to deliver urgently needed humanitarian aid, with fighting in parts of Sa'ada and Amran provinces hampering operations. Despite the obstacles, ICRC and Yemen Red Crescent staff continue to bring help whenever the situation allows them to move safely.

How displaced people have benefited from ICRC activities in recent days

Medical supplies

• A health centre in Wadi Khaiwan (Amran province) received basic medicines and a tent to act as a “waiting room”.



• Yemen Red Crescent staff in Baqim (Sa'ada province) received ICRC support in the form of medicines for the treatment 400 patients.



• The Yemen Red Crescent doctor based in Al-Azgoul received medicines.
  

Food and water

• In Sa'ada province, 5,000 displaced people in the Al-Talh area received flour, rice and cooking oil, while more than 250 people in the Qataber area received flour.



• 5,500 people living with host families in Sa'ada city received flour, rice and beans.



• Several dozen displaced families in Baqim and Al-Mahader (Sa'ada province) received daily water deliveries.



• 850 displaced people in Wadi Khaiwan (Amran province) received drinking water.
  

Shelter and other essential items

• Over 3,500 families who fled to Sa'ada city are receiving basic household items.



• ICRC and YRCS teams have been distributing blankets, mattresses, tarpaulins, jerrycans, soap, stoves, gas cylinders and other items to 2,500 people in the Wadi Khaiwan, Amran province.



• Over 1,900 people from Al-Mahader, west of Sa'ada city, and more than 560 people in Sa'ada city itself received such essential household items as blankets, mattresses, tarpaulins, jerrycans, soap, stoves and gas cylinders.



• 7,000 people registered in the Baqim area should be receiving shelter and other essential items in the next few days. The ICRC and the Yemen Red Crescent are working on accommodating 3,000 people as soon as possible.
  

The ICRC has been working in Yemen since 1962 and in Sa'ada governorate since 2004. Its workforce has been increasing steadily since the beginning of the year; the organization currently has 111 staff based in the country – 69 in the capital Sana'a, including 19 expatriates, and 42 in Sa'ada, including five expatriates.

UNICEF HEAD SPEAKS OUT AGAINST VIOLENCE IN NORTHERN YEMEN

The head of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has called for "immediate and secure" access to people uprooted by escalating clashes – mostly children and women – between Government forces and rebels in northern Yemen.

"Children cannot be the innocent victims of conflict," said UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman said in a statement issued yesterday, noting that the agency stands ready to assist civilians caught up in the conflict.

The humanitarian situation in camps, she said, is becoming ever more dire due to the lack of basic services, including safe water, sanitation and nutrition.

"Thousands of more families remain trapped inside the conflict zone, unable to reach safer areas," Ms. Veneman added. "They, too, are in urgent need of humanitarian support."

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported today that insecurity is hindering aid agencies' efforts to reach people affected by the fighting, which could ultimately uproot up to 150,000 people.

Including those displaced by previous violence, some 119,000 people in Sa'ada governorate have fled clashes between Government troops and Al Houthi rebels which are now spreading to the neighbouring Amran governorate.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said today that the violence has affected 35,000 in the past two weeks alone.

Stepped up fighting in recent days "is worsening what is already a dire and complex humanitarian emergency," agency spokesperson Andrej Mahecic told reporters in Geneva.

"We are especially worried about the situation in Sa'ada city, the provincial capital of Sa'ada governorate," he said, noting that a UNHCR team has reported that there has been no water and electricity there since 10 August.

Additionally, there is a fuel shortage and it is becoming increasingly perilous for people to reach markets to purchase food, Mr. Mahecic said.

Although UNHCR, which last week called on donors for an additional $5 million to respond to the latest emergency, has registered hundreds of newly displaced families, registration has been suspended due to security situation inside the city as well as a curfew.

Along with preparing new aid shipments, the agency is working with local authorities on the construction of a new camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) that could house up to 3,500 people.

According to OCHA, the violence has made it difficult for humanitarian workers to access the uprooted and accurately assess the situation, with the Sa'ada airport having been closed to all non-military activities.

Travel by land from Yemen's capital, Sana'a, has been hampered by roadblocks, with UN agencies having evacuated non-resident staff from Sa'ada on 20 August.

The Ministry of Public Health has pointed to an alarming situation in Sa'ada, which borders Saudi Arabia and is a relatively remote and inaccessible region where many health facilities are currently not functioning.

According to an inter-agency assessment in Haradh, many IDPs were found to be living without shelter or water and are at risk of heat stroke and severe dehydration. Further, cases of diarrhoeal diseases and child malnutrition have been reported.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has airlifted 40 metric tonnes of high energy biscuits, distributing 10 metric tonnes of food aid to 7,000 newly-displaced people in Hajjah governorate. It started delivering a one-month ration of cereals, pulses, vegetable, salt and sugar on 23 August for 10,000 people.

For its part, the World Health Organization (WHO) has provided two trauma kits to the Ministry of Public Health, while a mobile health clinic was deployed last week.

The UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) has released $1.2 million for rapid response measures to provide immediate assistance to 25,000 people displaced by previous fighting in Sa'ada.

A flash appeal, to fund life-saving assistance for up to 150,000 IDPs and other indirectly affected people, is being prepared.
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SECRETARY-GENERAL VOICES CONCERN AT CIVILIAN IMPACT OF FIGHTING IN NORTHERN YEMEN

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is expressing concern about escalating hostilities in the mountains of northern Yemen, where civilians are reported to be trapped in the middle of deadly fighting between Government forces and rebels.

Mr. Ban appeals to all sides in the clashes to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance to affected areas, his spokesperson Marie Okabe said today following questions from journalists.

He voiced hope that the situation in northern Yemen would soon be resolved by peaceful means and that the fighting will stop.

The violence has been concentrated in Saada province, which borders Saudi Arabia and is a relatively remote and inaccessible region of Yemen.

The United Nations World Health Organization (<"http://www.who.int/countries/yem/en/">WHO) has dispatched enough medicines and supplies to treat 200 people who have sustained injuries in the fighting, and plans to send more supplies next week.

WHO reported that it has also sent additional medical staff from its regional office in Cairo to support the emergency health operations in Yemen, while it is teaming up with the UN Children's Fund (<"http://www.unicef.org/">UNICEF) to coordinate a combined health and nutrition response to the situation.

UN SENDING MEDICAL HELP TO CONFLICT-WRACKED NORTH YEMEN

The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) is rushing medical assistance to northern Yemen, the scene of recent violence pitting Government forces against rebels.

The agency has sent medicine and supplies to treat people who have sustained injuries during the fighting, which media reports say has lasted a week in the mountainous region of Saada. Further supplies will be sent to the area next week.

A senior WHO emergency health officer has been dispatched from Cairo, Egypt, and is set to visit the conflict zone shortly, said spokesperson Paul Garwood.

WHO is waiting for confirmation of casualty figures, and is working with the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) on a joint health and nutrition response to the current emergency.
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CLASHES IN SOMALIA FORCING MORE REFUGEES ACROSS GULF OF ADEN – UN AGENCY

Fleeing escalating violence in the capital, Mogadishu, and central Somalia, thousands of Somalis are making the perilous journey across the Gulf of Aden to begin new lives in Yemen, the United Nations refugee agency reported today.

Some 12,000 Somalis – out of 232,000 people who have escaped clashes that broke out in early May between Government forces and the Al-Shabaab and Hisb-ul-Islam militant groups – have reached the northern port town of Bossaso since early May, and most of them are hoping that smugglers will transport them to Yemen.

Partners of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) report that Bossaso is already very crowded and that smugglers are already collecting cash from refugees trying to reach Yemen.

"As the sea is already very dangerous because of the prevailing conditions, the majority of the people are expected to camp in Bossaso and wait for September, when winds are more favourable," UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond told reporters in Geneva today.

Last year, over 50,000 people reached Yemen's shores, marking a 70 per cent increase from 2007. During the first half of 2009 alone, more than 30,000 people have made the "dangerous journey" to Yemen, Mr. Redmond noted.

In 2008, over 1,000 people died, either being thrown overboard or forced to disembark from boats too far from the shore by smugglers, as they attempted to make landfall in Yemen, he added.

So far this year, nearly 300 people have lost their lives or are missing as they tried to cross the Gulf of Aden, according to UNHCR.

"The smuggling phenomenon places increasing strain on Yemen's limited resources and poses more challenges to the Government's efforts to balance its obligations under international law with the need to protect the country from illegal entry," Mr. Redmond said.

New arrivals are picked up by UNHCR's partner agencies and taken to reception centres where they are registered and given food, shelter, medical assistance and other basic assistance while they recover from their journey.

"The Government of Yemen recognizes Somalis as refugees on a prima facie basis," the agency's spokesperson said, adding that the refugees can choose to shelter at the Kharaz camp two hours west of the Yemeni capital, Aden, where they receive legal and physical protection and help.

Already 13,000 refugees, mostly from Somalia, have made Kharaz camp home temporarily, while tens of thousands of other refugees have chosen to stay in urban areas around Yemen.

Somalia is one of the world's biggest refugee-producing countries, and UNHCR is providing protection and assistance to nearly 500,000 Somali refugees in nearby countries while also reaching out to 1.3 million people displaced within Somalia.
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Yemen: Halt Crackdowns on Newspapers

Military Assault, Printing Bans and Plan for Special Media Court Are Unjustified Censorship

May 15, 2009

(New York) - Yemen's government should immediately cease attacks on independent newspapers and scrap plans for a special court to try media cases, Human Rights Watch said today.

"These actions are a clear effort to silence independent voices in Yemen," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "President Abdullah Ali Saleh needs to end this campaign of intimidation and censorship."

On May 12, 2009, government soldiers in the southern port city of Aden stormed the headquarters of al-Ayyam, the country's most popular daily, as demonstrators outside the building protested a week-old publication ban on the paper and seven other Yemeni publications. At least two security guards were reported killed in an exchange of gunfire, with each side blaming the other.

Yemen's information minister had banned publication of the papers on the grounds that their reporting was "harming national unity." The papers had been reporting on recent, deadly clashes between government troops and protesters demanding more resources for the country's impoverished south.

Al-Ayyam delivery trucks were seized and set on fire May 1 and May 3 by people the paper described as government sympathizers. In the following days, security forces also arrested a blogger and the editor of a web site in the southern province of Hadhramaut.

The new media court was authorized Wednesday by the Supreme Judicial Council, an administrative body affiliated with the Justice Ministry. The ministers of justice and information said it would open on May 16 to hear media cases swiftly and "protect all sides' rights."

However, Yemen has previously prosecuted journalists critical of the government in proceedings that fall short of international fair-trial standards. Last year, one prominent journalist was convicted of terrorism - but subsequently pardoned - for reporting on civilian casualties by military forces during clashes with minority Zaidis in the north. Other journalists have been detained by security agents. On February 12, 2008, unidentified gunmen attacked al-Ayyam's offices in the capital, Sana'a, after the paper covered previous unrest in the south.

"Yemen's history of harassing journalists raises serious questions about the judicial council's motives," Whitson said.

Yemen is a party the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Arab Charter on Human Rights, both of which guarantee the right to freedom of expression.

"We urge Yemeni government authorities to investigate these incidents thoroughly and to allow freedom of expression," Whitson said.

US/Yemen: Break Impasse on Yemeni Returns from Guantanamo

"Many Yemenis are entering their eighth year without charge at Guantanamo. The United States can't simply hold these men because it fears they might become dangerous in the future."

Letta Tayler, Terrorism and Counterterrorism researcher

Nearly 100 Yemeni Detainees Pose Biggest Obstacle to Closing Prison

The United States and Yemen should quickly move to develop a humane repatriation plan for the nearly 100 Yemeni prisoners being held at Guantanamo Bay, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Unless the impasse in repatriation negotiations is swiftly resolved, the Yemenis will remain the biggest obstacle to President Barack Obama's plan to close the detention facility.

"Many Yemenis are entering their eighth year without charge at Guantanamo," said Letta Tayler, terrorism and counterterrorism researcher at Human Rights Watch and author of the report. "The United States can't simply hold these men because it fears they might become dangerous in the future."

The 52-page report, "No Direction Home: Returns from Guantanamo to Yemen," criticizes US and Yemeni proposals to transfer the detainees to a detention center in Yemen where they could continue to be held indefinitely, ostensibly for rehabilitation. Based on two weeks of field research in Yemen and more than three dozen interviews, including with former Yemeni prisoners and US and Yemeni officials, the report also warns of the potential for mistreatment in other plans being considered for the detainees.

Human Rights Watch obtained a summary of the Yemeni government's rehabilitation plan for future Guantanamo returnees, which says the men would receive counseling, medical care and job training. However, the plan provides scant detail on how authorities would decide when the men were "rehabilitated."

During meetings with Human Rights Watch, senior Yemeni officials said some returned men could be detained in rehabilitation for a year or more. Yemeni officials also said they may restrict the men's movements upon release from the center.

While insisting they would not seek unlawful detention, US officials expressed security concerns arising from returned detainees. One US Embassy official in Yemen said the proposed center should be "basically a prison facility with a programmatic aspect."

"The Yemenis' rehabilitation needs to be genuine, not a guise for continued detention without charge," said Tayler. "Moving them from one form of arbitrary detention to another is not a solution to Guantanamo."

About two-fifths of the estimated 241 detainees currently at Guantanamo are Yemeni, making them the largest national group remaining at the prison. While the United States will likely prosecute a handful of them, talks with Yemen on repatriating the rest have stalled on several issues, including US fears they might "return to the fight," because al- Qaeda's presence in Yemen has been growing. In September 2008, al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at the US Embassy in the capital Sana'a that killed 18 people.

If Washington does not work to create a repatriation plan for the Yemeni detainees, it may try to transfer them to the United States and continue to detain them without charge, Human Rights Watch said. Another option, sending some Yemenis to a locked rehabilitation center in Saudi Arabia, could also pose potential risks.

The report also details the mistreatment and neglect of the 14 Yemeni detainees from Guantanamo who have already been repatriated. Yemeni authorities jailed most of the men for a few months without charge. In the worst case, one man was held for two years and said interrogators tried to beat him into confessing he was a spy.

Some of the returnees said they suffer from both psychological and physical problems emanating from years in US custody, yet despite their unlawful detention, none has received assistance from the United States or Yemen. Stigmatized as former "terror suspects," many cannot find jobs. The men are under constant surveillance, are banned from leaving Yemen, and must report monthly to authorities.

The report recommends that the United States fund a genuine rehabilitation effort for returned detainees that includes counseling, medical care, and job training. It also calls on Yemen to let detainees challenge any restrictions and allow independent, nongovernmental organizations to monitor the repatriation process.

"Yemeni authorities should not assume these men are terrorists simply because the United States held them at Guantanamo," Tayler said. "If they feel they must monitor the detainees or restrict their movement, they have to provide the men with a meaningful legal process to contest the measures."

Human Rights Watch said that any accord between the United States and Yemen should also resolve the cases of two Yemenis whom the United States is holding without charge at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.

"The best way to prevent the returned Yemenis from becoming a threat is to help them reintegrate into their society and repair their lives," Tayler said.

Accounts from former detainees (pseudonyms used to protect them from possible reprisal):

"They [the Yemeni authorities] beat me with shoes. There were insults, bad words and threats. I told them, 'If you're going to torture me, it won't be anything new. The Americans already put me through torture.'"
- "Fahmi Muhammad," on being held for two years after his return in 2004.

"It's a catastrophe. I have lost a lot of things - my health, my kids' childhoods, my career, and many years of my life."
- "Malek al-Dhabi," on life since his return to Yemen in 2006.

"No one will hire me because I was at Guantanamo. ... There is a girl I am interested in, but I can't ask her father for her hand because I don't have bride money or a way to support her. Her father wouldn't dismiss me if I had a job."
- "Omar Fawza," on life since his return to Yemen in 2006.

AT LEAST SEVEN DEAD IN LATEST SMUGGLING TRAGEDY OFF YEMENI COAST – UN

At least seven Africans drowned over the weekend when the smugglers' boat they were travelling in capsized shortly after docking in the Yemeni port of Aden, the United Nations refugee agency has reported, adding that 85 passengers survived thanks to rescue efforts by local officials and the French Navy.

The incident occurred on Saturday as passengers tried to disembark from the boat, which had just been towed to the Yemeni coast by a French frigate that on Thursday had found it adrift and taking on water in the Gulf of Aden.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) said the French sailors stopped the leak and then towed the boat, which was carrying 104 people, to Aden. As it docked, "the frightened passengers all rushed at the same time to disembark, causing the vessel to founder because of the sudden shift in balance," the agency said in a press release.

French sailors and the Yemeni coastguard rescued 85 passengers, which included Somalis and Ethiopians, and four of the smugglers, who were later arrested. In addition to the seven that drowned, five people are missing and presumed dead.

"We are grateful to the French Navy and the Yemeni authorities, including port officials and the coastguard, for the rescue operation," said Leila Nassif, the head of UNHCR's sub-office in Aden. "As soon as the boat overturned, we saw everyone jump in the water and no effort was spared to save lives."

According to UNHCR, some 260 boats and 13,250 people have made the dangerous voyage across the Gulf of Aden from the Horn of Africa to Yemen so far this year, with 54 people reported dead and 36 missing at sea.
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SIX PEOPLE DROWN, 11 REPORTED MISSING IN SMUGGLING TRAGEDY OFF YEMENI COAST

SIX PEOPLE DROWN, 11 REPORTED MISSING IN SMUGGLING TRAGEDY OFF YEMENI COAST – UN
New York, Feb 24 2009 10:00AM

Six people drowned and another 11 are reported missing and presumed dead after smugglers forced passengers overboard in deep water off the Yemeni coast last week, the third such incident so far this year, the United Nations refugee agency said today.

Survivors said the boat had departed Thursday from Suweto, in Somalia's Bossasso region, Ron Redmond of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) told reporters in Geneva.

It was carrying 52 Somalis and Ethiopians across the Gulf of Aden and was one of seven smuggling boats that reached the coast of Yemen on Friday.

"When the smugglers noticed the presence of the Yemeni police onshore, they refused to get closer to the coast and forced passengers overboard in deep water," Mr. Redmond said.

Initial reports said 35 people reached shore near Huseysa, about 500 kilometres east of Aden, where UNHCR's local partner provided them with first aid, food and water. The six bodies were also recovered near Huseysa.

Mr. Redmond noted that this is the third fatal incident since the beginning of 2009. "So far this year, a total of 168 boats and 9,449 people have reached the Yemen coast. To date, the death toll stands at 47 people, with 23 bodies buried and 24 missing at sea."

In 2008, more than 50,000 people crossed the Gulf of Aden to Yemen, and the influx of new arrivals making the perilous voyage since the beginning of this year increased slightly compared to the same period in 2008.

"We are concerned that this trend might continue through 2009," said Mr. Redmond.
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