Nye kampe mellem militante Shia-musliner og salafister i Dammaj i Yemen går ud over civile borgere. Humanitære organsationer er stærkt bekymrede over de humanitære forhold
DUBAI, 6 November 2013 (IRIN) – A fresh outbreak of sectarian fighting in northern Yemen between militants of the Houthi-led Shia movement and (Sunni) Salafists has entered a second week with at least 50 people killed, according to a senior government health official, and aid workers getting little access to the besieged village of Dammaj, a Salafist stronghold.
Humanitarians are concerned that thousands of vulnerable civilians, some of them injured and sick, are unable to flee as Houthi forces continue to bombard the village from surrounding hills. In a statement last week they said a Salafi religious centre in Dammaj, Sa’dah Governorate, was being used to recruit Sunni fighters.
Attempts at a ceasefire on 5 November failed, and a further six people were reported killed overnight, with further fighting today, according to the government hospital in Dammaj.
“The humanitarian situation is catastrophic. There is no food, no medicine, no fuel, artillery shelling is non-stop and they are using all kinds of arms,” said Ahmad al-Wade’i, director of the hospital. “Diseases are spreading in a catastrophic way. Every day that passes the suffering of the people increases.”
The fresh fighting puts at risk a fragile truce that ended the civil war in the north in 2010. An escalation of the conflict around Dammaj could spill over to the neighbouring governorates of Hajjah, Amran and Al Jawf.
Several hundred families have fled their homes for underground food storage silos that are serving as shelters. “The shelters are unhealthy, fresh air doesn’t get in, they are underground, there are no bathrooms; they are overcrowded,” al-Wade’i said.
Access A brief ceasefire on 4 November allowed a humanitarian convoy of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) into the area to evacuate 23 seriously wounded people and drop off several boxes of medical supplies, but clashes resumed after a couple of hours.
“[T]here are still more wounded people in need of treatment, and we hope to be able to come back for them,” said Cedric Schweizer, head of the ICRC delegation in Sana’a in a statement.
