Puppet UN warns about worsening humanitarian situation in Yemen

The United Nations (UN) has warned against the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Yemen, which has been the target of military strikes by Saudi Arabia for over two months.

In excess of 15 million Yemenis face a lack of basic healthcare; as many as 53 health facilities have been closed and malnutrition has been on the rise in Yemen, Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesman for the UN, told reporters at the world body’s daily briefing in New York on Monday.

He said the data on the impoverished Arab country was provided by World Health Organization (WHO).

Dujarric added that a shortage of fuel and increasing insecurity have blocked the distribution of food aid to Yemeni people.

“Our humanitarian colleagues also say that there are more than 250,000 metric tons of grain in stores in Aden and Hudaydah, but that it can’t be transported due to lack of fuel and insecurity, nor be cooked because of a lack of cooking gas,” said Dujarric, referring to two southern Yemeni cities.

The WHO has reported that dozens of health facilities in Yemen have been targeted by Saudi airstrikes as well as shelling and fighting in the Arab country since March, adding that 10 health care workers have been killed or injured in the ongoing conflict.

The United Nations cultural agency, UNICEF, has also said that 87 percent of the schools in southern Yemeni provinces have been closed due to the ongoing conflict.

Dujarric also said the humanitarian agencies in the Arab country will not be able to accomplish their mission unless commercial imports to Yemen are fully resumed and a safe environment for the transport of imported goods is provided.

The expression of concern by the UN official comes as Saudi Arabia keeps pounding Yemen with deadly airstrikes. In the latest wave of such strikes, Saudi fighter jets bombarded a Yemeni military base in the city of al-Mocha in the southern province of Ta’izz.

The Yemeni Interior Ministry also released a statement on Tuesday saying that at least 75 people were killed and 145 others sustained injuries in the Saudi airstrikes against areas across Yemen on Monday.

According to the UN, some 2,000 have lost their lives due to the conflict in the war-torn country since March 19.