by WorldTribune Staff, July 1, 2016
The world has turned its back on the extreme suffering in Yemen, a London-based charity said.
For months, non-government agencies (NGOs) have been trying to bring to light the plight that Yemenis face on a daily basis but their warnings have been mostly ignored, British charity Oxfam said.
“The scale of suffering for millions in Yemen is staggering,” said Mark Goldring, Oxfam GB Chief Executive.
“There are many people who are hungry, the ports have been bombed and food is not getting imported as it was before. Everyone is suffering and it is a sad story of a country that was already the poorest in the Middle East and now the world is looking away. There isn’t the challenge like in Syria, the people of Yemen are being left to struggle alone. We have got to do better.”
Over the past 15 months, more than 6,400 people have been killed in Yemen as a Saudi-led Arab coalition attempts to drive out Iran-supported Houthi rebels and fully restore the internationally-recognized government. Alleged war crimes by all sides involved have been reported.
Bombings, landmines and shelling have destroyed schools, clinics, businesses, farms and markets with one in four companies having closed, and 70 percent of the workforce laid off, Oxfam reported.
Half the country “goes to bed hungry every night because of astronomical food prices,” Goldring said. “Since the beginning of the conflict, regular bombing and shelling have forced 2.8 million people from their homes, while the economy is in tatters.”
“Back in Sanaa, the capital, I’ve seen damage and destruction, boy soldiers manning roads with guns that was as big as they are. Most sadly of all, I have seen ordinary people having to flee their homes and they have had to flee with nothing at all camped on rocks with the minimal food and shelter,” Goldring told Sputnik.
Meanwhile, two people were killed and 18 wounded on June 30 when a Houthi rebel threw a grenade into a crowded civilian marketplace in Yemen’s Ibb governorate, the Ibb Media Center reported.
Several civilian properties were also destroyed or damaged in the attack. The Houthis seized Ibb, 193 kilometers (120 miles) south of Sanaa, in March 2015. It has served as a major logistical base for the Iran-backed rebels.
Never mind? ‘Scale of suffering for millions in Yemen is staggering’ added by World Tribune on
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