UN: Saudi villages evacuated over Yemen fighting

Nov 13, 2009, 16:20 GMT

  Geneva/Cairo - Some 240 villages in Saudi Arabia have been evacuated because of fighting in northern Yemen, the United Nations said Friday, warning of an escalation of the conflict.

  'Fighting has now spilled into Saudi Arabia, reportedly causing 240 villages to be evacuated and more than 50 schools to be closed,' said Sigrid Kaag, UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) regional director.

  UNICEF said more than 175,000 people, mostly Yemeni, had been displaced by the conflict since 2004, including a surge of 25,000 people forced to flee in recent weeks.

'The latest influx is adding more pressure on an already dire situation, and overcrowding in the camp is becoming a major concern,' a spokesperson for the agency said in a statement. 'Three or four families now share a tent normally meant for one.'

  'During the past three months, children affected by the conflict in the north have seen all their basic rights violated,' Kaag said in a statement.

  Malnutrition was said to be reaching 'alarming levels.'

  'Given the resources available in the region, it is inconceivable that the children of Yemen should die of malnutrition,' Kaag said.

The latest UN data showed that a 23.7-million-dollar humanitarian aid appeal for Yemenis caught in the conflict had received only 41 per cent of the needed funding, mostly coming from Western nations.

Among neighboring Gulf countries, Saudi Arabia donated 1 million dollars to the relief efforts.

  Saudi Arabia launched a military operation earlier this month against Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, who were said to have infiltrated into the kingdom's territory from Yemen and seized mountainous villages near the border.

  Riyadh, which used its air force to pound rebel positions, said a week ago it had quickly regained the lost ground.

  The rebels are fighting in an extended campaign against Yemen's government. The violence has destabilized large swaths of territory in the impoverished country.