Yemen update 6/2/2016..Diseases killed 10,000 Yemeni children under five years of age in past year
UN: Yemen conflict left hospitals, schools almost broken
UN adds Saudi Arabia to its annual blacklist
UN blacklists Saudi coalition over killing Yemeni children
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/06/03/468662/UN-blacklist-Saudi-Arabia-coalition-airstrikes-attacks-children-hospitals-schools
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has added the Saudi military coalition in Yemen to an annual blacklist of states and armed groups that openly flout the rights of children. Ban said in a report released on Thursday that the coalition was responsible for 60 percent of child casualties in Yemen last year, when it killed 510 children and injured 667 others. The report further noted that the Saudi military contingent carried out half of its aerial attacks against schools and medical facilities. “Grave violations against children increased dramatically as a result of the escalating conflict,” Ban stated.
Meanwhile,the UN humanitarian chief in Yemen, Jamie McGoldrick, said Saudi Arabia’s military aggression against Yemen has left hospitals, schools, and other essential services almost completely broken. McGoldrick called Yemen’s war “an invisible crisis”, voicing regret at the lack of international attention given to the country compared to the foreign-sponsored militancy in Syria. “The scale of the emergency is tremendous. The scale of the need is massive and the depth of the crisis is immeasurable,” he said on Thursday.
“Government services and the health system were hardly functioning before the conflict and the war has all but broken them completely,” McGoldrick stated. On Wednesday, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said some 10,000 of Yemeni children, all less than five years of age, lost their lives last year as a result of “totally avoidable and preventable diseases” such as diarrhea and pneumonia.
Dujarric said the heavy loss was due to the closure of hundreds of health centers and the total collapse of the healthcare system in the war-torn country. “The overall healthcare system throughout Yemen has all but collapsed, over 600 health facilities closing their doors due to the lack of financial resources to procure medicine, supplies and fuel for generators,” he said, adding thousands of medical staff have gone unpaid or left Yemen.
Saudi Arabia launched its military aggression against Yemen on March 26, 2015, in a bid to reinstate resigned President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh, and undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement. More than 9,400 people have been killed and at least 16,000 others injured in the aggression.
Diseases killed 10,000 Yemeni children in past year: UN
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/06/02/468571/Yemen-Saudi-Arabia-UN-Houthi-children
United Nations says some 10,000 of Yemeni children, all under five years of age, have lost their lives during the past year alone. The deaths were caused by “totally avoidable and preventable diseases” such as diarrhea and pneumonia, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Wednesday. Yemen has been under Saudi military attacks almost on a daily basis since March 2015, which have killed thousands and destroyed the country’s civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, schools, and factories.
Dujarric said the heavy loss was due to the closure of hundreds of health centers and the total collapse of the healthcare system in the war-torn country. “The overall healthcare system throughout Yemen has all but collapsed, over 600 health facilities closing their doors due to the lack of financial resources to procure medicine, supplies and fuel for generators,” he said, adding thousands of medical staff have gone unpaid or left Yemen. “This suffering should, however, turn into an incentive to reach a rapid and comprehensive solution as we approach the month of Ramadan,” he said.
UN special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed also said reports from several cities showed the horrifying magnitude of the suffering that the Yemeni people are going through because of shortages in basic services.
PressTV-Houthis free areas in Ma’rib, Shabwah
Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah fighters and allies have liberated key areas in the provinces of Ma’rib and Shabwah from Saudi-backed militants.
Officials with Yemen’s ousted government said on Thursday that the Houthis and allies forced militants loyal to the resigned president, Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, to retreat from the areas.
Fighting reportedly continued in those areas for three days. Over 80 people were killed from both sides of the conflict. Bihan region in Shabwah witnessed the highest number of casualties.
Sources close to Hadi claimed that the retreat was due to the lack of support from the Saudi regime.
The warring sides of the conflict in Yemen have been engaged in intensive talks in Kuwait to resettle disputes. The negotiations, which have been mediated by the United Nations, started on April 21 and has seen the two sides involved in direct talks over the past few days.
A shaky truce was in place to facilitate the talks although both the Houthis and the militants accused each other of violating the ceasefire. Houthis even warned last week that if Saudi Arabia does not stop airstrikes and keeps breaching the truce, they would withdraw from the peace talks.
High-ranking diplomats attending the talks said on May 31 that the two sides had agreed on the cessation of hostilities on the ground and the setup of a transitional government in Yemen.
The sources said the new government would have Hadi at its head for a maximum of 45 days, after which he would give up his authorities to a deputy picked with mutual consensus.
Sources in Sana’a said Wednesday that Houthis had swapped earlier in the day 16 militant prisoners with 19 Ansarullah fighters. They said the exchange was part of a deal the two sides reached in Kuwait.
The UN hopes the Kuwait talks could put an end to Saudi Arabia’s belligerent policies toward its impoverished neighbor, as the Saudi airstrikes and ground assaults have killed close to 10,000 people since March 26, 2015.
Source: http://blogdogcicle.blogspot.com/2016/06/yemen-update-622016diseases-killed.html
