The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has requested this Friday "urgent help" to assist about 3,000 people who in recent days have reached the shores of Djibouti fleeing the fighting in Yemen, triggered by the offensive launched on September 3 by the Houthis in the west of the country, with which they have managed to control the Yemeni coastline of the Red Sea.
The UNHCR representative in Djibouti, Sandrine Desamours, has detailed that these people have arrived after crossing the Bab el Mandeb strait "in precarious boats," and has emphasized that the hostilities in Yemen "force more and more families to leave the Asian country."
"Refugees continue to arrive by sea through the landing points of Obock, Jor Angar, Mulhule, and Godoria, after very difficult crossings," she noted, before adding that "available reports indicate that thousands more are trying to flee Yemen, but cannot do so due to insecurity and lack of fuel for the boats, which keeps them trapped in the country."
According to Desamours, the newcomers at the reception centers in Djibouti, among whom women and minors predominate, report that they feared for their lives in Yemen and that "they fled from bombings, artillery attacks, and gunfire."
"Many mothers hurriedly gathered their children and the few belongings they could take with them before heading to the coast and boarding small boats," she explained, stressing that for a large part of these people "this displacement means reliving a known experience," after having been forced to escape several times since the war began in 2014.
Desamours has highlighted that "both the families of Djibouti and the Yemeni refugee community itself continue to welcome those who arrive and share with them the scarce resources they have," although she has warned that "the response capacity is quickly being overwhelmed," especially because some settlements are already overcrowded.
She added that "although the Government of Djibouti, UNHCR, and humanitarian organizations are preparing to receive at least 10,000 new arrivals, the pressure on basic services is already evident, especially in terms of housing, water, sanitation, healthcare, and education."
In this sense, it has warned that "the existing educational facilities do not have the capacity to enroll all the newly arrived children, while overcrowding could increase the risk of communicable diseases, including scabies and diarrheal diseases."
Finally, it has reminded that in Yemen more than 100,000 internally displaced persons have already been counted due to violence and has warned that "without an improvement in access conditions and a strengthening of international support, it is increasingly likely that both internal displacements and movements of people to neighboring countries will increase."
Delivery of medical supplies in Sana'a
At the same time, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reported this Friday the delivery of 22 tons of medical material in the Yemeni capital, Sana'a —under Houthi control—, in order to replenish stocks and support hospitals, which are attending to a growing number of injured due to hostilities.
"The recent intensification of hostilities has saturated hospitals, which are facing shortages of medical supplies and the admission of war-injured patients," said the head of the ICRC delegation in Yemen, Christine Cipolla.
"This emergency support will help frontline hospitals continue to provide vital care to those who desperately need it," she added, according to a statement from the organization, which specified that health centers in the Marib province are under "immense pressure" due to the fighting.
Cipolla insisted that the ICRC's action is "strictly humanitarian." "Our priority is to alleviate human suffering, protect people affected by conflicts, and ensure that essential services and supplies reach those in need," she stated, before emphasizing that the organization maintains contacts with "all parties," "urging them to protect the civilian population and infrastructure."
Humanitarian and health emergency in Yemen
The director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, Alessandra Vellucci, has indicated that "more than 22 million people, almost half of the population of Yemen, need humanitarian aid," and has warned that the current hostilities are causing "this figure to increase."
"Despite the numerous challenges, including access and funding limitations, our colleagues on the ground continue to support vulnerable communities wherever they can," he highlighted during a press appearance in Geneva.
For his part, the spokesperson for the World Health Organization (WHO), Tarik Jasarevic, emphasized that the country is facing "multiple simultaneous health risks, including cholera, measles, dengue, diphtheria, malnutrition, and trauma."
"Outbreaks, food insecurity, malnutrition, and limited health services. This is manifested through an increase in the needs for trauma and emergency care, the rise in displacement, and a greater demand for services, supplies, and referral capacity, which are already limited," he lamented.
The Houthis have launched an offensive in areas of the provinces of Taiz and Hodeida and, since then, have made significant advances, including the capture of the city of Mocha and areas near the Bab el Mandeb strait, which is a severe blow to the internationally recognized authorities backed by Saudi Arabia.
These advances strengthen the rebels' ability to influence maritime traffic in Bab el Mandeb —something they have already promised not to do— a step whose relevance has increased following the disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz resulting from the offensive launched on February 28 by the United States and Israel against Iran.
The current escalation threatens to blow up the truce agreed upon in 2022, after years of war and despite the mediation efforts of the United Nations to reach a peace agreement to end the conflict that began in 2014, which has plunged Yemen into one of the world's most severe international crises.