NAN-F-19
Assault
Geneva, April 25, 2017 (Reuters/NAN) UN and Russian officials on Tuesday warned against an attack by Saudi-led coalition forces on the rebel-held Yemeni port of Hodeidah, the aid lifeline for a country where millions of people are in desperate need of food.
“The warring factions must ensure deliveries of food and other aid to starving people.
“Across Yemen, hunger and malnutrition have reached unprecedented levels and the threat of famine looms large.
“The country is on the brink of catastrophe,” David Beasley, the Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme said at a food conference in Geneva.
The government, backed by Saudi Arabia and the West have been fighting Houthi rebels aligned with Iran for more than two years in a war that has killed at least 10,000 people.
A Saudi-led military coalition is preparing an assault on Houthi-held Hodeidah, which lies on the Red Sea and is the point of entry for nearly 80 per cent of Yemen’s food imports.
“The Hodeidah port is a critical lifeline.
“Any disruption to the port would gravely hamper efforts to prevent famine,’’ Beasley told the UN organised conference.
Yemeni officials said earlier this month thar the government and its allies had positioned two brigades for a possible attack, one 230 km North of Hodeidah and the other 130 km to the south.
“Air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition have hampered humanitarian operations to import food and fuel supplies,’’ the UN said.
Five cranes at the port had been destroyed, forcing dozens of ships to wait offshore for their turn to dock.
UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien told Reuters on Monday the port had only one operational crane to offload cargo following previous attacks.
The coalition had accused the Houthis of using the port to smuggle weapons and had tried to block ships from entering.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told the conference that Russia could not accept what he called a blockade.
“There are also worrying rumours about an assault on Hodeidah and then a move to Sanaa, this is something we cannot allow to happen,’’ he said.
Gatilov called for a resumption of UN sponsored peace talks, which had been stalled for months.
“While war is still raging in Yemen, the only winner here will be ISIS, al-Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula and other terrorists and extremists, under whose control whole territories have fallen,” he said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said nearly 19 million people, or two-thirds of Yemen’s population needed emergency aid.
“One child under the age of five dies of preventable causes every 10 minutes,’’ he said. (Reuters/NAN)
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Edited by Celine-Damilola Oyewole/Ese E. Ekama