POVERTY: YEMEN: Fighting in north leads to fresh displacements

HAJJAH, 31 January 2012 (IRIN)
 Photo: Adel Yahya/IRIN

IDPs receive food from villagers after reaching Khairan al-Muharaq District, Hajjah in northern Yemen
Ahmad Hussein Naji, 75, and his wife Taqwa, spent three days in the open after fleeing clashes in Kisher District in Yemen’s northern governorate of Hajjah before eventually finding shelter in a school in the neighbouring district of Khairan al-Muharaq.
“My husband coughs and coughs until he vomits blood… We have no medicine to give him,” Taqwa told IRIN. “It was the hardest trip in my life… We had neither food nor water nor even a blanket to protect ourselves from the cold.”
The elderly couple are among hundreds of families displaced by last week’s clashes between Houthi-led Shia fighters and Sunni Salafi members in Kisher.
Helene Kadi, an emergency coordinator with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), told IRIN 580 families had been displaced by the fighting. “Over 30 percent of the IDPs [internally displaced persons] have taken shelter in five schools, a worrying trend we have seen with recent displacements in the country… Others have been hosted with families or have no shelter.”
According to Ali Meshaal, a social worker in Kisher, around 230 displaced families - mostly the elderly, women and children - fled to Hajjah Governorate’s Ahim District, while more than 250 families had made it to Khairan al-Muharaq. “The whereabouts of dozens of other displaced families is still unknown,” he told IRIN.
Hajjah Governorate is home to more than 100,000 IDPs displaced by fighting between government troops and Houthi rebels since June 2004, according to a December 2011 report by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

Kind hosts
People from the al-Khamisein area in Khairan al-Muharaq District warmly received several displaced families. “They are sharing their food and water with hundreds of displaced persons who reached their villages. They also freed up schools in the area so they could be used as shelters for the displaced,” he said.
Meshaal appealed to the government and aid organizations to intervene: “The condition of the IDPs is getting much worse due to lack of food and appropriate shelter,” he said.
Ali al-Dubai with local NGO al-Khair Social Charitable Society (ASCS) said more than 2,000 IDPs had been identified and registered for assistance in Hajjah Governorate.
UNICEF, according to Kadi, has distributed 316 hygiene kits and made efforts to raise awareness about hygiene issues among IDPs and the host community. The construction of 12 latrines has been completed and water trucking to IDPs is taking place in the al-Khamisein area. Seven more 1,000 litre tankers are to be deployed and eight emergency latrines will be constructed, and more hygiene kits distributed. Water, sanitation and hygiene assistance is being delivered by UNICEF's partner ASCS, Kadi told IRIN.

Stranded
However, several families are stranded “either on their way to safer areas or inside their homes after many villages in Kisher District became inaccessible and roads unsafe,” said Sheikh Abdullah Dhahban, a member of a recently established tribal mediation committee which is trying to persuade the warring parties to lay down their arms.
“Several dead bodies are still lying in the mountains… None of their relatives have come to collect them for burial,” Dhahban told IRIN.
Local witnesses who preferred anonymity told IRIN on 28 January that Houthi fighters were attempting to tighten their control of a strategic mountain-top position called Abu Dowar, and fighting was also continuing for control of Mishabah hill, which overlooks Suq Ahim (a local market) in Kisher District.
“If Houthis take over this hill it will be easier for them to control the entire district,” one of the witnesses told IRIN.
Waning central government influence due to political turmoil since early last year, has allowed the Houthis to tighten their control of Sa’dah Governorate and push into eastern parts of neighbouring Hajjah Governorate.
“The whole governorate [Sa’dah] is controlled by Houthis. We only have to deal with one party,” said Beatrice Megevand-Roggo, head of operations for the Near and Middle East at the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The fresh displacements are taking place as Yemen prepares for presidential elections scheduled for 21 February.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportID=94763

POVERTY: YEMEN: Soaring food, fuel prices hit poor hardest

SANA'A, 6 July 2011 (IRIN)

 Photo: Hugh Macleod/IRIN
Recent studies say wide-scale starvation looms over millions of Yemenis due to price hikes (file photo)

Motorbike taxi driver Abdulkarim Mohammed has been finding it increasingly difficult over the past few months to buy sufficient food for his eight-member family in Yemen.
"Before the revolution, I needed only YR500 (US$2.2) to buy bread for the whole family… but now YR1,000 ($4.4) is not enough," he told IRIN in the capital, Sana’a. "Also, I rarely find fuel for my motorbike.”
By “revolution” he means the series of countrywide protests which started nearly five months ago against the 33-year rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh and which have left hundreds of protesters dead or injured, and displaced tens of thousands of civilians.
The unrest has pushed up prices. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the cost of bread has risen by 50 percent in the past few months. There is also concern that the currency could collapse, pushing another 15 percent of Yemenis below the poverty line.
Statistics indicate that one in three people are food insecure and under-nourished, and more than 50 percent of children are stunted, OCHA said in a 1 July report.
Economists predict the situation could get worse if Yemen's food reserves run out in the coming two months and the government fails to pay staff salaries.
“The current youth revolt may lead to another revolt by the hungry,” Mohammed al-Fandi, head of the non-profit Yemen Centre for Strategic Studies warned.

Increased malnutrition?
In the last few months, many poor families have faced increasing malnutrition because they are unable to buy staple food, according to local think-tank the Studies and Economic Media Center.
Nine million Yemenis, it said in a 4 July report, were having difficulty meeting minimum food needs. “The prices of food staples such as flour, sugar and milk have increased 40-60 percent while ongoing unrest has caused unprecedented shortages in fuel supplies, the price of which increased by 900 percent in the past five months,” it said.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP), in a recent assessment, found that four of the country’s 21 governorates - Rayma, Amran, Hajja, Ibb - were the most food insecure.
“Through focus group discussions, it was found out that food prices are higher in rural areas… most likely because of the transportation cost which has risen due to the fuel scarcity,” a WFP briefing note said in Mid-June.
“In Yemen, 96 percent of households are net buyers. Thus the poorest households are hit hardest by the recent price increases... The poorest have now opted for negative coping mechanisms, such as reducing the number of meals, no consumption of meat or fish, and even fasting," it added. "In light of how many Yemenis already spend 30-35 percent of their daily income on bread, the inflation of bread prices could prove daunting for the food security of the poorest families."

More people displaced
In the south, more people have recently been displaced, and currently more than 15,610 internally displaced persons are in Aden, about 11,890 in Lahj and an unconfirmed 15,000 in Abyan. Some 90 percent of those in Aden, according to OCHA, depend on donations by host communities to meet their daily food needs.
Media reports suggest the Yemeni economy lost around US$5 billion during the first three months of the political crisis and is now teetering on the brink of collapse. The situation has been compounded by a crippling fuel shortage.
Ahmad Abdulwahabi, a nutritionist in Sana’a, said increased food shortages would mean lower calorie intake for many people. “Low calorie intake causes anaemia and damages vital organs such as the kidneys, liver and heart, as the body normally burns through muscle tissue if there are not enough calories,” Abdulwahabi told IRIN.
Mohammed al-Baadani, a wheat dealer in Sana’a, called for a compromise between the ruling party and opposition to stabilize the economy and bring food prices down.
“Parties to the conflict should consider the suffering of the poor," he said. "It is the poor who are bearing the brunt of political turmoil in the country.”

http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportID=93158

MALNUTRITION: Yemen: Islamic Relief USA Launches Emergency Campaign

WASHINGTON, June 13, 2011

Islamic Relief USA, a relief and development organization based in the D.C. metropolitan area, announced the launch of its Yemen Emergency Campaign. Escalating tensions between tribes and government forces sparked a wave of violence resulting in widespread displacement of Yemenis.
The United Nations children's agency, UNICEF, is warning that the ongoing crisis in Yemen is fostering a humanitarian catastrophe. Already one of the poorest countries in the world, Yemen faces widespread water and fuel shortages. According to the UN, the number of internally displaced in Yemen is around 15,000, but there are fears the number could reach as high as 40,000 and beyond. These internally displaced persons (IDPs) are in need of humanitarian assistance. The majority of the displaced are women and children.
Before the unrest began, more than 7 million Yemenis were already suffering from hunger or food insecurity, according to the World Food Program. Nearly half of all Yemenis live on less than two dollars a day. Half of all Yemeni children suffer from stunted growth due to chronic malnutrition, the highest rate in the world. Recent reports indicate that malnutrition and disease may escalate dramatically in the coming months if no peace settlement occurs.
Islamic Relief USA is a nonprofit 501(c)(3)humanitarian organization with eight consecutive 4-star ratings from Charity Navigator. Its mission is to alleviate suffering, hunger, illiteracy and disease regardless of color, race, gender or creed, and to provide aid in a compassionate and dignified manner. Islamic Relief USA aims to provide rapid relief in the event of human and natural disasters and to establish sustainable local development projects, allowing communities to better help themselves.
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/islamic-relief-usa-launches-yemen-emergency-campaign-123754979.html

MALNUTRITION: Yemen on verge of disaster: UNICEF rep

Jun 8, 2011

A Yemeni girl writes on a wall as she and other children play in an alley of the old city of Sana'a. (file photo)

The Yemen representative for the United Nations Children's Fund has warned about the sheer scale of the crisis in the country, saying it could lead to a humanitarian catastrophe.
"This country is absolutely in dire need of humanitarian assistance," Geert Cappelaere said.
Cappelaere said that 50 percent of Yemeni children “have stunted growth,” adding that "malnutrition levels are horrendous. Food prices are going up, so malnutrition levels that are already high are going up too," Reuters reported on Tuesday.
"We hope that a solution to the political stalemate will come soon, but even if it comes this is not an end to the problems. We cannot emphasize that enough. Forty percent of the population lives below the poverty line and the repercussions of this are just huge."
The UNICEF representative added that the citizens of Sana'a are also suffering from shortages of water and fuel.
Earlier on Tuesday, at least 19 people, including three children, were killed in clashes between Yemeni tribesmen and troops loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
On Saturday, President Saleh left Yemen for Saudi Arabia, one day after he was injured in an attack on his presidential compound in the capital Sana'a.
Saleh's vice president said that the Yemeni leader would return within days.
Anti-government protesters, who have turned out for rallies in the major cities since late January, called for a swift transfer of power in Saleh's absence.
Hundreds of people have been killed in a brutal crackdown on protesters since the beginning of the Yemeni revolution.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/183689.html