|
|
YEMEN: Children Flee Fighting
By Phoebe Greenwood*
AMRAN, Yemen, Oct 12 (IPS/AJ) - As the conflict between government forces and Houthi fighters grinds on in the
mountains of Saada in northern Yemen, thousands of Yemeni civilians, many of
them children, are being forced from their homes by the fighting.
The latest UN figures estimate that 150,000 have so far been displaced by
the bloodiest bout in this war, fought intermittently since 2004.
More than 6,000 people have made their way to the Al-Mazraq camp in
Haradh district. There, in sweltering heat, they are receiving food, water,
medical and psychological support. The rest are scattered, finding shelter
wherever they can.
In Amran, a district directly south of Saada, around 28,000 people are
camping with relatives, in school buildings and rented houses. They have
either been unwilling to head to the camp or unable to bear the heat.
Concealed within the community, they are difficult to reach and to help.
Hussein is a teacher from Haidan district, one of the first areas in Saada to
suffer heavy fighting. He moved to Amran with his wife and their six children
earlier this week and is renting a house with nine other families from their
village.
Of the 53 people sharing three rooms, 33 are children.
Hussein says: "We decided to come to Amran because we heard NGOs were
helping people here. We went to Al-Mazraq first. We were waiting there to be
registered but weren't given a tent.
"The children we saw were sick with malaria and it was too hot, so we
decided to come here.
"We are safe and almost comfortable except there are clearly too many people
in one place and we are poor.
"The government has given us some food but not enough. We had to leave all
our belongings behind us and now we are using what money we have on
rent."
In Yemen, one in every two children is malnourished and the rate of child
mortality is high.
This conflict and the resulting mass displacement have made food, water and
shelter even more insecure for already vulnerable children.
A Save the Children report published this week which examines the neglected
crisis of global child mortality warns that in conflicts it is always children who
are most vulnerable.
In Amran, the organisation has been seeking out vulnerable families within
the displaced community.
It creates safe places where their children can play with toys, kites and
footballs and forget even briefly the trauma of the war.
Hissin, Ali Hussein's neighbour, asks his 18-month-old son what noise a
plane makes. "Arrrggggh boom boom boom!!!" he replies.
Raga, Hussein's wife, explains: "All the kids are afraid of planes. Whenever
they see one in the sky, they all put their fingers in their ears because they
think there will be loud fighting."
Saad arrives on foot with Ayyad, her eight-year-old grandson. She cries when
she sees Ghalib, Ayyad's father, who arrived with his wife and their four other
children the previous day.
Ayyad says: "We've had a very long drive and a very long walk. I stayed behind
when mum and dad left because I wanted to stay with my granny.
"She has looked after me since I was a baby." He quickly kisses his father and
runs off to join his cousins in a game of football with Save the Children
volunteers.
Many of the displaced have been separated from their families. Raada has not
yet been reunited with her family.
Wiping away tears, she says: "I left my twin girls who I am still breast-feeding
behind.
"We've had to come in groups because cars come to our village so rarely.
"They smuggle us out through remote routes on the mountain. It's a three-
day journey.
"My husband is hiding in the mountains with other men from our village.
They can't be in the houses because it's not safe from the planes or the
fighting on the ground. It is torture leaving your home, everything you own."
The local government authority in Amran is planning a camp similar to Al-
Mazraq to provide food and shelter for the influx of displaced.
It has agreed to work with NGOs, including Save the Children, to ensure the
medical and psychological needs of children there are met. But for the
thousands who have abandoned all they own to the conflict, what they need
most desperately is peace.
Raga says: "We hope most of all that we will all be able to return home. The
community has been co-operative with us but we are aliens in this area.
There is nothing to do here, we can't tend to our farms, it's just depressing."
*Published under an agreement with Al-Jazeera.
(Phoebe Greenwood works for Save the Children UK, a global children's
charity.) (END/2009)
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
What is RSS?
