HIGHLIGHTS OF PRESS CONFERENCE BY UN UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS ON FLASH APPEAL FOR YEMEN

John Holmes, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, launching the Flash Appeal for Yemen, said he had just been launching, with the Ambassador of Yemen, the Flash Appeal to tackle the humanitarian emergency which had arisen in the last few weeks in some of the governorates in Northern Yemen as a result of the hostilities between the Government and local Shiite rebel groups. This was not a totally new phenomenon, there had been hostilities in that area before, and the United Nations had been involved in humanitarian aid there before, but the situation had deteriorated very sharply in the last few weeks. The Flash Appeal was for $ 23.5 million to assist an estimated 150,000 internally displaced persons until the end of 2009, as well as tens of thousands of others indirectly affected by the conflict in one way or the other, including the communities hosting the internally displaced persons. The Flash Appeal was for 38 projects by United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations and the International Organization for Migration. The main areas of need identified in the appeal were for food, $ 5.3 million; shelter and non-food items and camp coordination, $ 5.1 million; water and sanitation and hygiene, $ 4.5 million; protection and emergency education, $ 2.9 million; nutrition,
$ 2.5 million; and health, $ 2.3 million.

These projects were designed to help what they estimated to be 150,000 internally displaced persons in the area; this figure was just an estimation. One of the problems they had at the moment was lack of access to some of the most difficult areas where the internally displaced persons were and where the fighting was taking place, and that was why the United Nations was calling for establishing humanitarian corridors to enable those trapped by the fighting to escape and to enable humanitarian assistance to get in there. They did not yet have agreement from all concerned. The Government had no problem with that but they were having difficulty establishing direct contact with the rebel groups to ascertain what their view was.

Mr. Holmes said this emergency was affecting an area which was already subject to great difficulties, including poverty, under-development and food insecurity. That was why the situation was particularly worrying and why they were doing what they could. Many of these people had already been displaced once by fighting and now they were being displaced twice. The Government was setting up some camps, and some of the internally displaced persons were staying in these camps. But many were in a phenomenon familiar from Pakistan more recently, they were staying with family members or in schools and makeshift tents. Some had no shelter at all. These were people from mountainous regions being pushed out onto the plains and were having to deal now with the summer temperatures which were very different from what they were used to. There were concerns about their welfare for all these reasons and also because basic services like water and electricity and food supplies had been interrupted by the fighting. The United Nations was trying to scale up their efforts as much as they could. The main problem was lack of full access to those in need. They were already providing as far as they could food and clean water, healthcare and non-food items. But they were not reaching everybody, which was why they had asked for these humanitarian corridors.

Mr. Holmes said he had made an urgent appeal to Governments this afternoon through the Flash Appeal to help. The humanitarian efforts so far had been conducted on the basis of resources, both human and material, available in the country already. But those stocks were running out very rapidly. The Central Emergency Revolving Fund had already given Yemen $ 2.6 million in early August.

Asked to comment on the potential risks if nothing was done to help the internally displaced persons, and could there be further displacement into Saudi Arabia, Mr. Homes said the reason why they had become increasingly alarmed was because of the condition of the people that they had found on the ground. They did not have full access to the area, but several UN teams had been up and what they were finding were people in severe difficulties. That was why they had launched the Flash Appeal. He did not know what the situation would be if there was no cease-fire, and if there was no full access. The area was right next to the Saudi border, so there was a possibility of people crossing the border. The immediate concern was not so much this situation spreading to other areas in the region, it was more to deal with particular severe humanitarian needs being seen right now.

A journalist asked if the people were trapped in the fighting area. Mr. Holmes said his impression was that some people had managed to escape the fighting areas, which was why they had these camps in areas outside the places of immediate fighting. But there were other people who had not been able to get out because the roads were closed or blocked by the fighting. The Government had been trying to clear the roads. The Government claimed that many people were in effect being used as human shields by the rebels and had been kidnapped by them in attacks on the camps and elsewhere. His impression was that there was an attempt to keep the people in and to stop them leaving. On food supplies, UN stocks were running low without replenishment. This was already an area of great poverty and under-development in general and calls by the World Food Programme and others reflected the fact that food stocks were readily present but they would run out very quickly.

Asked how the United Nations was negotiating with the rebel groups, Mr. Holmes said at present, they did not have any direct contacts of their own with the rebel groups. That was not so easy to do as it was not so easy to recognize leadership to talk to. That was one of the things they needed to look at, not to have negotiations with them about politics or a cease fire, but simply to talk to them about allowing humanitarian workers in and out and allowing the civilian population to get out. The UN was not involved in any mediation or negotiations about the cease fire. As he understood it, the Government had offered a ceasefire but for the moment there had been no response from the rebel groups.

Asked if the situation of the displaced persons was “catastrophic”, Mr. Holmes said subject to the fact that they did not have perfect first hand information from some of the worst affected areas, he did not think they were in a “catastrophic” situation, they had people in desperate need which was why the United Nations had suddenly stepped up efforts and launched this Flash Appeal. These people needed help quickly. The United Nations recognized that this was something that was likely to continue for some time and that was why they were appealing for more funds.

In response to a question on up-to-date figures on the casualties, Mr. Holmes said that he had no figures of persons killed or injured of any value in this situation.