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WORLD> Center
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UN chief calls for peace in Yemen
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-08-20 03:29 UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki moon is concerned about escalating hostilities in north of Yemen between government forces and Zaidi Shiite rebels, also known as Houthis, said a spokesperson here on Wednesday. There is a steady stream of reports from the rugged mountains of north Yemen that civilians are trapped in the middle of a conflict getting deadlier by the day. "The secretary-general hopes that the situation in northern Yemen will soon be resolved by peaceful means and that fighting will cease," said deputy spokesperson Marie Okabe.
"We will uproot this cancer that exists in Saada province, or wherever it is, with a strong and determined resolve," Saleh said, according to reports. At the UN Headquarters in New York, Okabe told reporters that Ban "appeals to all sides to facilitate delivery of humanitarian assistance to the affected areas." The World Health Organization (WHO) has sent enough medical supplies for 200 surgical interventions for people with traumas and injuries and will send more supplies next week, said Okabe, who added that WHO has also sent additional medical staff from its regional office in Cairo, Egypt. According to reports, fighting began on Yemen's bordering region with Saudi Arabia, but has since spread south to Amran province, where heavy combat continued on Wednesday in the Harf Sufyan area. While the death toll is unclear, the rebels, who are led by Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, have reportedly accused government forces of killing dozens of civilians. The Yemeni government has implicitly accused Iran of financially supporting the rebels, pointing to the war's coverage by Iranian media outlets as proof. Iran is predominantly Shiite Muslim and the Houthi rebels subscribe to the Zaydi branch of Shiite Islam -- a minority in mostly Sunni Muslim Yemen. Tehran has repeatedly denied Iranian involvement in the conflict. |
