Thousands affected by Sa’ada war in need of aid, rights group

Joe Stork, Deputy-Director for the MENA and Gerry Simpson, the Human Rights Watch researcher call for international pressure on the Yemeni government to ease restrictions on the delivery of humantarian aid to Sa’adah.

The Yemeni government and al-Houthi rebels are still depriving thousands of war-affected people of humanitarian assistance in the northern Sa’ada province, said a report released Wednesday by the Human Rights Watch.

The report, “Invisible Civilians: the Challenge of Humanitarian Access in Yemen’s Forgotten War”, demanded more local and international pressure on both sides to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to the people in such areas. 

“As of October 2008, up to 70,000 people in remote areas and towns remained outside the reach of aid agencies,” the report said.

In a press conference held in Sana’a Wednesday, Joe Stork, Deputy-Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Human Rights Watch, told reporters, “ Thousands of civilians are in need of assistance, but the government and al-Houthi rebels are still depriving them of aid,” “This violates international law and common decency. Countries and UN agencies that provide assistance to Yemen need to press both the government and rebel forces to allow humanitarian access.” 

Al-Houthi rebels prevent the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the areas still under their control, according to the report.

The 46-page report is based on investigations   and interviews with displaced persons and aid agencies based in Sana'a, conducted last July in Sana'a by a team from Human Rights Watch. However the organization was unable to travel to areas directly affected by the conflict because the government did not grant permission to travel. 

"We have focused our meeting with victims of human rights violations, displaced people from Sa'ada, as well as some officials and journalists who are familiar with the situation there" said Joe Stork in the conference. 

"We noticed people feared speaking to us. There is a great fear of arbitrary arrest, but we were able to get some information to prepare this report."

Joe Stork said the Yemeni officials they met before releasing the report criticized it for being biased in favor of the al-Houthi side.  

"The officials told us that we took our information from one source- the al-Houthi, and we should meet government officials. They also said that the organizations we met have political agendas." 

Stork and his accompanying delegations met with the Minister of Interior, the Minister of Human Rights, and the Director of the National Security Agency.

A Human Rights Watch researcher expects that a new round of fighting will soon break-out; although President Ali Abdullah Saleh said on July 17th the war was over.   

“Sa’ada seems to be in period of peace and rebuilding. However some people we have met expressed their fear that a new round of fighting was likely in the near future. All donors still consider Sa’ada as an area of conflict and they are now ready to provide assistance for rebuilding,” said Gerry Simpson, the Human Rights Watch researcher who prepared the report last July.

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