President of the Red Cross (ICRC) Makes an Urgent Appeal After Visiting Yemen

YemenExtra

M.A.

The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Peter Maurer, made an urgent appeal after a visit to Yemen, which lasted several days. He visited several governorates and learned about the suffering of Yemenis as a result of the ongoing Saudi war, siege and the spread of cholera.

“I am leaving Yemen deeply saddened by the plight of its people. The cholera epidemic is still worrying. As the rainy season approaches, we expect to exceed 600,000 cases by the end of the year, which is unprecedented,” Maurer said.

The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said the outbreak of cholera was a direct and inevitable consequence of the Saudi war on Yemen. “This outbreak is human-made. It is a direct result of more than two years of war, during which the health care system has collapsed and people are dying of chronic, easily treatable diseases.”

“I saw with my own eyes this week the extent of the devastation brought by the war in cities, communities and families,” the ICRC president confirmed regarding the massive destruction of cities, facilities and infrastructure.

“A number of imprisoned individuals by parties of the conflict are put in prisons, while no connection exists between them and their families. Yesterday, families of the detainees (in Saudi affiliated prisons) organized a protest in front of our headquarters in Sana’a asking for satisfactory answers about their loved ones, no doubt, it is our priority to ease the pain of these people, but in order to help them we must be allowed to visit the detainees,” Marwer continued.

“Unless the warring parties show more respect for the laws of war, I fear that more epidemics are going to take place in the future,” Marwer stated as he called upon the parties and the countries of the Saudi-led coalition to take serious steps in order to alleviate the suffering of millions of Yemenis.

He also appealed to all parties demanding them to change the behavior of the war, saying that “the parties of the conflict must stop targeting hospitals, power and water stations, otherwise we will only observe more tragedies.”