NEW YORK CITY: More than 281,000 people have been forced from their homes by fighting in Yemen since the start of August, the UN said on Wednesday. The conflict has also cut main supply lines into Taiz and pushed aid convoys onto narrow mountain tracks.
More than half of the displaced were sheltering in Taiz governorate, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York, citing data from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Humanitarian access has deteriorated sharply over the past three weeks, he said. Damage to a key road linking Taiz to southern governorates has forced shipments of supplies onto mountain routes, “which is slowing deliveries.”
Three-quarters of the displaced are living at sites where shelter, clean water and sanitation are scarce. More than 35,000 families still lack shelter assistance, and more than 230,000 people need emergency water and sanitation support, Dujarric said.
Women and girls bear the heaviest costs of the crisis. The UN Population Fund has warned of sexual violence, people trafficking and forced marriage, particularly at crowded sites that lack privacy, lighting and separate sanitation facilities.
Aid agencies were working “wherever access permits,” Dujarric said. They were sending mobile protection teams to displacement sites, screening displaced children for malnutrition in eight governorates, and installing emergency water supplies and latrines in communities that are taking in displaced families.
“We once again call on all parties to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, and to allow safe, sustained and unimpeded humanitarian access so that aid can reach people in need,” he added.
The Iran-backed Houthis have encircled the city since early October, cutting off the road to Aden. The latest displacement figures represent an increase of more than 20,000 in less than a week.
The governor of Taiz, Nabil Shamsan, said on Wednesday that residents had lost access to about 3 million liters of water from wells in Wadi Al-Dhubab, which is under Houthi control.
Houthi missile and drone attacks on airports in Saudi Arabia have killed at least 22 people and injured more than 364 this month.
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