GENEVA — People displaced by the renewed fighting in Yemen have described fleeing for their lives amid shelling and gunfire, aid agencies reported on Friday, while highlighting the dramatic increase in humanitarian needs in the country and in Djibouti, where thousands have sought shelter.
At least 112,000 people have been displaced inside Yemen within the last two weeks of fighting, and nearly 3,000 have fled by sea to Djibouti, the UN’s International Organization for Migration said.
It said people are fleeing on overcrowded boats and arriving with very limited food and water.
“Our resources are very, very, very limited and our stocks will be depleted very soon,” said Abdusattor Esoev, IQM’s Chief of Mission in Yemen.
In just two weeks since clashes erupted between Saudi-backed Yemeni Government forces and Iran-backed Houthi militia, more than 112,000 people have been displaced across Aden, Hudaydah, Abyan and Taiz.
Nearly 3,000 people have crossed the Gulf of Aden to Djibouti in the Horn of Africa in less than a week as escalating violence have forced more families to flee, Sandrine Desamours, the representative for the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, told reporters in Geneva via video link from Djibouti.
The government of Djibouti is preparing for the arrival of up to 10,000 refugees, which will add acute pressure on the country’s health care and education services, she said.
Most fleeing are Yemeni families seeking refuge in Djibouti, but IOM is also beginning to see a small number of migrants, mainly from Ethiopia, heading in the same direction.
Additionally, authorities in Somaliland and Puntland have also reported increased arrivals from Yemen, including Yemeni refugees and Somali refugee returnees, though numbers remain in the hundreds for now, UNHCR said.
UN agencies described the latest fighting as being a crisis on top of multiple crises as the country’s health services and economy have been shattered amid a long civil war between forces of the internationally recognised administration and the Houthis created one of the world’s biggest humanitarian crises.
Source: Saudi Gazette