100 civilians killed a month in Yemen war, most by coalition: UN

Aid reaches Mokha district, says UNHCR

GENEVA, March 25, (RTRS): An average of 100 civilians a month are dying in Yemen’s war which enters its third year this weekend, most killed by the Saudi-led coalition’s air strikes and shelling, the United Nations human rights office said on Friday.

In a statement marking the second anniversary on Sunday, it said it had confirmed 4,773 civilians killed and 8,272 injured in the conflict pitting Iran-allied Houthi rebels against the ousted Yemeni government backed by the Saudi-led Arab coalition.

The latest victims included 32 Somali refugees and a Yemeni civilian killed by “shelling from a coalition warship” and shooting by an Apache helicopter in an attack on their boat off the coast a week ago, it said. A further 10 are missing.

Civilians in Taiz were suffering “desperate shortages” of food and water due to Popular Committees allied to the Houthis who encircle the city and prevent aid deliveries, it said.

Meanwhile, aid has reached the embattled district of Mokha in Yemen, where fighting in a two-year-old civil war has been escalating since January, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Friday.

Intensified fighting has led to more than 48,000 people being driven from their homes in Taiz governorate — where Mokha is located — in the past six weeks alone, UNHCR said.

Humanitarian access to Mokha has been particularly challenging due to clashes and movement restrictions imposed by the warring parties.

Distribution, which began last Monday, was allowed after weeks of negotiations, UNHCR said.

“UNHCR’s field staff reported many (people) were traumatised and living in desperate conditions, lacking water and sanitation and sharing limited resources with local host communities,” the agency’s spokesman, Matthew Saltmarsh, told reporters in Geneva.

At least 3,416 people received wash buckets, sleeping mats, blankets and mattresses and other essential items, Saltmarsh said.

An average of 100 civilians a month are dying in Yemen’s war which enters its third year this weekend, most of them killed by the Saudi-led coalition’s air strikes and shelling, the United Nations human rights office said on Friday.

In a statement marking the second anniversary on Sunday, it said it had confirmed 4,773 civilians killed and 8,272 injured in the conflict which has pitted Iran-allied Houthi rebels against the ousted Yemeni government backed by the Saudi-led Arab coalition.

Captains of small wooden dhows are carrying food and wares from the United Arab Emirates to war-torn Yemen. But supplies are falling even from this centuries-old Arabian sea route that is one of the last lifelines to a country on the brink of famine.

A two-year-old civil war has severely restricted the flow of food into the main Yemeni cargo ports of Hodeidah and Salif on the Red Sea, where all the large grain silos are located.

The small wooden boats sailing from souks in the UAE are moving small but vital supplies by making for the smaller ports to the south coast that are of little use to larger vessels — and often sidestepping military inspections that choke traffic by dropping anchor at secluded coves nearby.

The deals originate in the sprawling Al Ras Market, a collection of dusty alleyways near the Dubai Creek where an array of food and spices are on display including colourful sacks of Pakistani and Indian rice.

The dhows — plying the ancient trade route that once carried the likes of pearls, frankincense and myrrh — supply 14,000 to 18,000 tonnes of foodstuffs a month to Yemen, according to traders. That represents a drop of about 30-40 percent over the past year because of problems with payment, as well as adverse sailing conditions.

“The Yemeni currency is destroyed, sometimes we can’t get paid enough. We can only go once a month because the seas are too rough,” said trader Mohammed Hassan, at a docking station at nearby Port Khaled in Sharjah

“Sometimes we have to wait 40 days.”

The volumes of food carried on this route represent a small fraction of the supply to Yemen, which relies on imports for 90 percent of its food. But it has become increasingly important as fighting has raged, the economy has collapsed and Yemen has needed all the help it can get.