SANAA, 12 October 2009 (IRIN): The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has launched a cross-border aid operation through Saudi Arabia to meet the urgent needs of internally displaced persons (IDPs) trapped in and around Saada city in northern Yemen, according to UN officials.
– The first UNHCR convoy is on the way with essential emergency items to thousands of trapped IDPs, who remained inaccessible for the past two months as a result of escalating clashes between the government troops and Houthi-led Shia rebels, said UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes at a press conference on 11 October in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa.
Holmes has ended a three-day mission to Yemen during which he visited the Mazrak IDP camp in Hajja Governorate, some 300 km west of Sanaa.
– The first batch of emergency items includes mattresses, blankets, hygiene kits and kitchen sets for 2.000 people, he told IRIN, and added: – The items will be distributed to trapped IDPs through the Saada-based NGO Al-Amal Society, our implementing partner.
In Baqim and other northern areas near the Saudi border, 15.000-30.000 IDPs have been inaccessible to aid workers for the past two months, according to UNHCR.
In the latest round of fighting between government troops and Houthi rebels, UNHCR field staff have registered up to 36.216 IDPs in three governorates (Saada, Hajjah and Amran), while the total number of displaced persons since 2004 stands at about 150.000, including those living with host families or those still inaccessible.
