YemenEXtra
YemenExtra

Three Civilians Killed Every Day in Yemen: Oxfam

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YemenExtra

 SH.A.

Three civilians are being killed every day in Yemen – which is one person every eight hours – despite agreements reached between the internationally recognized government and the Houthis at talks in Sweden just over three months ago.

 

In December 2018, the two parties agreed a ceasefire for the key port of Hodeidah, as well as a prisoner exchange, as the first steps towards negotiating peace in Yemen, where fighting escalated four years ago on 26 March 2015.

 

In the 11 weeks following the agreements, 231 civilians were killed across the country by airstrikes, shelling, snipers or landmines. A third of those killed were in Hodeidah governorate, despite the ceasefire there.

 

Fifty six of those killed were children – a number that would fill two classrooms in the average UK primary school. 

 

The civilian death toll has dropped in the wake of the UN sponsored talks in Sweden. The UN recently reported almost 100 civilians a week were being killed or injured in 2018. But it remains unacceptably high.

 

Muhsin Siddiquey, Oxfam’s Yemen Country Director, said: “Every day that passes without concrete progress towards peace, more Yemenis lose their lives and the suffering deepens for those struggling to find food and shelter amid the world’s worst humanitarian disaster.

 

Aside from fatalities, the war continues to take a toll on civilians in other ways. Millions of Yemenis are on the brink of famine due to the withering economy and the closure of key ports to vital food supplies.The fighting needs to stop.