Yemen – Page 5

India ends evacuation in Yemen, 5,600 pulled out

April 10, 2015 by Nasheman

New Delhi: India has ended its massive evacuation efforts of its nationals in Yemen, pulling out 5,600 people, including 4,640 Indians and 960 nationals from 41 countries, the government said.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted: “The evacuation operation from Yemen is over. General V.K. Singh is returning tonight. We are closing our Embassy there.”

Earlier the external affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin tweeted that India concluded its evacuation efforts in Sana’a by airlifting over 630 people by three special Air India flights from the Yemeni capital.

Akbaruddin said the security situation in Yemen has deteriorated further with a bomb blast at Aden port on Thursday. “India completes its air evacuations from Sana’a”.

“The total no. of Indians evacuated from Sana’a by air has crossed 2,900 by 18 special flights since the beginning of the air operations,” he tweeted.

“Indian naval vessels have also evacuated over 1,670 Indians from Aden, Al Hudaydah and Al Mukalla ports in Yemen since 31 March,” he wrote.

“Indian Naval Ship INS Sumitra evacuated 349 persons, including 46 Indians and 303 foreign nationals from Al Hudaydah port on April 9,” he said.

(Agencies)

Iran and Turkey back political solution to Yemen crisis

April 8, 2015 by Nasheman

Iranian president tells his visiting Turkish counterpart ceasefire in Yemen “must be established” and strikes halted.

by Al Jazeera

Turkey and Iran agree on the need for a political solution to end Yemen’s war, which has raised tensions between them, Iran’s president has said after talks with his visiting Turkish counterpart.

“We talked about Iraq, Syria, Palestine … We had a long discussion about Yemen. We both think war and bloodshed must stop in this area immediately and a complete ceasefire must be established and the strikes must stop” in Yemen, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said during a joint news conference broadcast by state television.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made no remarks about Yemen, where Houthi rebels and their allies – widely believed to be supported by Tehran – are battling forces loyal to embattled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, while a Saudi-led coalition is bombing the rebels’ positions.

Erdogan, however, talked at length about bilateral relations with Iran, which has condemned the strikes. Turkey supports the aerial bombardment, which began on March 26.

Rouhani said he hoped the two countries, “with the help of other countries in the region” would contribute to “peace, stability, a broader government and dialogue” between Yemenis.

“We agree on the fact that instability, insecurity and war must cease throughout the region,” he said.

Erdogan denounced at the end of March what he called Iran’s will for “domination” in Yemen, calling on Tehran to “withdraw all its forces from Yemen, Syria and Iraq”.

Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister, reacted by accusing Turkey of causing instability in the Middle East.

Erdogan, a former close ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, supported the uprising in Syria and backed rebels fighting Assad’s government. Iran supports the Syrian government.

Several ministers accompanied Erdogan, who also met Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during his one-day visit.

‘Expensive gas’

Despite the tensions, the neighbouring countries want to strengthen trade to $30bn in 2015.

Erdogan pointed out that the balance of trade was unfavourable to Turkey, since “Iran exports $10bn and imports only $4bn in Turkish products”.

“The gas we buy from Iran is the most expensive. If the price drops we can buy more,” Erdogan said. “That’s what a friendly country is.”

During the visit, eight documents – particularly in the areas of transport, customs, industry and health – were signed.

Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith, reporting from Istanbul, said that Erdogan focused on trade relations during his visit and asked Iran to bring the natural gas price for Turkey down.

Smith said: “Before Erdogan arrived in Tehran, he had a meeting with the Saudi interior minister. Turkey has suggested it might offer logistical support to Saudis in their campaign in Yemen. But in Tehran, he made no concrete reference to the conflict in Yemen publicly.”

With Scores of Children Among Civilian Dead in Yemen, US Sending More Weapons

April 8, 2015 by Nasheman

Red Cross describes situation in war-torn nation as ‘catastrophic’ with violence on ‘every street and every corner’

International aid groups estimate that more than 75 Yemeni children have been killed since the start of Operation Decisive Storm on March 26. (Photo: UNICEF)

by Lauren McCauley, Common Dreams

Amid warnings that the Saudi-led attack on Yemen is taking a devastating toll on civilians, including more than 75 children killed since fighting began, the United States announced on Tuesday that it will be expediting the shipment of more weapons to fuel the conflict.

Speaking to reporters in Riyadh after meeting with Gulf Arab allies and Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken said the United States is increasing its support, through more arms and intelligence-sharing, of Operation Decisive Storm.

International aid groups warn that the operation, which is being led by the Saudi Arabia military with backing from Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Sudan, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain, as well as the U.S. Pentagon, has had a devastating impact on the nation’s infrastructure and civilian population.

In a statement on Monday, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that at least 74 children have been killed and 44 maimed since fighting began on March 26, while countless others have been injured, displaced and put at risk from disease.

“Children are paying an intolerable price for this conflict,” said UNICEF Yemen Representative Julien Harneis speaking from the Jordanian capital Amman. “They are being killed, maimed and forced to flee their homes, their health threatened and their education interrupted. These children should be immediately afforded special respect and protection by all parties to the conflict, in line with international humanitarian law.”

UNICEF added that the estimated number of child deaths is “conservative” and is likely higher due to the intensifying conflict.

On Tuesday, a Saudi-led airstrike targeting a Houthi-controlled military base in the central Yemen province of Ibb crippled a nearby school, killing a 10- and 12-year-old while injuring dozens of other students, local residents told Xinhua News.

Meanwhile, fierce fighting between the coalition and rebels has spilled into the streets of the Aden peninsula in the south, a situation the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) described as “catastrophic.”

Marie Claire Feghali, spokesperson for ICRC Yemen, said that the humanitarian situation in all of Yemen is “very difficult…(with) naval, air and ground routes cut off.” Feghali described the situation in Aden as “catastrophic to say the least.”

“The war in Aden is on every street, in every corner… Many are unable to escape,” she said.

And Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Yemen representative Marie-Elisabeth Ingres said that hospitals in Aden in recent days have received fewer casualties, “not because there are no wounded people, but due to the difficulties faced in trying to reach a hospital.”

Pakistan debates military involvement in Yemen

April 7, 2015 by Nasheman

Parliament discusses request by Riyadh for fighter jets as Saudi-led coalition continues to bomb Houthi positions.

Rival Pakistani rallies have been held for and against the Saudi-led campaign on Yemen [Reuters]

by Asad Hashim, Al Jazeera

Islamabad: Saudi Arabia has asked for Pakistani fighter jets, ground troops and naval warships to join its campaign against Houthi rebels in Yemen, Pakistan’s defence minister has said.

Khwaja Asif was addressing a joint session of the Pakistani parliament, which met in Islamabad on Monday to begin a debate on whether to join the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen, where air strikes against Houthi rebels have been ongoing since March 25.

Pakistan has regularly voiced support for the Saudi mission, but has so far not committed to taking material part in the air strikes against the Houthis, who are said to be backed by one of Pakistan’s neighbours, Iran.

Saudi officials and state media, however, have been citing Pakistan as one of 10 countries that are actively engaged in the military campaign in Yemen.

Asif said that while no decision had yet been taken on joining the military coalition, “any violation of Saudi Arabia’s territorial integrity would elicit a strong response from Pakistan”, echoing the position publicly stated by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif repeatedly in the last week.

Terming the Houthi rebels “non-state actors”, who had overthrown the “legitimate” Yemeni government, led by President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, Asif stressed that Pakistan, along with regional ally Turkey, was calling for a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

“The situation is grave and might endanger the safety and security of the whole region,” Asif said.

In the last week, more than 980 Pakistanis have been evacuated from Yemen by the Pakistani government, which has sent commercial aircraft and naval ships to aid in this effort, in conjunction with Saudi military authorities. The country is host to approximately 3,000 Pakistanis.

‘Give peace a chance’

Asif, along with Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz and several high-ranking military personnel, visited Saudi Arabia on March 31 to discuss the situation in Yemen.

While there, he told parliament, the Pakistani delegation assured Saudi officials that Pakistan would protect Saudi territory if need be, but that it was pursuing the path of dialogue, and wanted “to give peace a chance”.

He confirmed that during this visit, Saudi officials had “requested us for aircraft, naval vessels and ground troops”.

PM Sharif met his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Friday, where the leaders discussed possible diplomatic solutions to the crisis in Yemen, in addition to expressing support for Saudi Arabia.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif is due to visit Islamabad on Wednesday to discuss the crisis.

Muslim-majority Pakistan is a long time ally of Saudi Arabia, which is home to Islam’s two holiest sites, Mecca and Medina. It is also a major recipient of Saudi aid.

Pakistan has been walking a tight rope on the issue, analysts say, balancing its alliance with Saudi Arabia against the possibility of military involvement souring relations with neighbour Iran and possibly inflaming sectarian tensions at home.

Pakistan’s military is also currently engaged in ongoing operations against the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its allies in the country’s tribal areas, with roughly 170,000 troops committed to that fight, in addition to fighter jets, the defence minister said on Monday.

The session adjourned late on Monday without a resolution being passed, and Speaker Ayaz Sadiq reconvened the debate for Tuesday morning.

UN: 100,000 new displaced in Yemen since strikes began

April 7, 2015 by Nasheman

UNICEF says majority of those that have fled their homes since conflict escalated are women and children.

by Al Jazeera

More than a 100,000 people have fled their homes after Saudi-led coalition air strikes began in Yemen, according to UNICEF.

A spokesman from the UN agency, Rajat Madhok, told Al Jazeera that most of those who have been displaced are women and children.

“Most displacements have taken place from and within al-Dhale, Abyan, Amran, Saada, Hajja. The displaced persons are mostly being hosted with relatives,” Madhok said.

In a statement published on Tuesday, UNICEF, the UN agency that provides humanitarian assistance to children and mothers, said 74 children caught up in fighting had been killed and another 44 maimed since March 26.

“These are conservative figures and UNICEF believes that the total number of children killed is much higher,” the statement read.

The agency’s Yemen representative, Julien Harneis, said children were paying an “intolerable” price, and said more needed to be done to protect them.

“These children should be immediately afforded special respect and protection by all parties to the conflict, in line with international humanitarian law,” Harneis said.

Aden clashes

The comments came as Houthi rebels and forces backing President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi engaged in fierce clashes in the country’s south, reportedly leaving more than 140 people dead in 24 hours on Monday.

Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, spokesperson for the Houthis, told Al Jazeera that the number of civilian casualties was not yet clear.

“We don’t have a clear account of the number of civilians being killed but obviously the number is increasing due to the strikes and also the humanitarian situation is deteriorating due to the siege and strikes hitting food storages,” he said.

Aden is a power base for Hadi, who fled to Saudi Arabia as the fighters from the Zaydi Shia sect expanded their control across the country.

As thousands are in dire need of aid, the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) said that one passenger plane carrying staff was able to land in the capital Sanaa on Monday, but that the organisation has not yet been able to find a cargo plane operator to fly supplies into the country.

Sitara Jabeen, the ICRC’s spokesperson, told Al Jazeera that the humanitarian situation was worsening.

“The situation in Yemen remains extremely critical. The conflict … has intensified, especially in Aden. We are still trying to find a cargo plane that can carry our supplies to Sanaa,” said Jabeen, speaking from Sanaa.

The Saudi-led coalition has bombed Houthi positions since March 26 and has dropped weapons to Hadi loyalists, but the rebels continue to put up resistance and have said they will accept peace talks only if the aerial attacks stop.

The Houthis swept into Sanaa in September and put Hadi under house arrest before he fled to Aden and then to Saudi Arabia. Backed by militias loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, they control large swaths of Yemen, which is also grappling with al-Qaeda.

As Death Toll and Chaos Mount in Yemen, Red Cross Calls for Ceasefire

April 6, 2015 by Nasheman

‘The streets of Aden are strewn with dead bodies, and people are afraid to leave their homes,’ says Red Cross

A Houthi fighter mans a weapon on a patrol truck as he guards the site of a demonstration against Saudi-led coalition airstrikes, in Sanaa April 3, 2015. (Photo: Reuters/Mohamed al-Sayaghi)

by Deirdre Fulton, Common Dreams

Amid ongoing Saudi-led airstrikes—including a bombing Friday that killed at least nine people from the same Yemeni family—the United Nations is considering calls for a ceasefire in Yemen to allow urgent humanitarian aid deliveries and evacuation of civilians.

And on Sunday, Reuters cited a senior Houthi member who said the Houthis “are ready to sit down for peace talks as long as a Saudi-led air campaign is halted and the negotiations are overseen by ‘non-aggressive’ parties.”

Warplanes and ships from a Saudi-led coalition have been bombing the Iran-allied Houthi forces for 11 days.

However, as Juan Cole notes, the airstrikes “have repeatedly hit civilian neighborhoods in cities like Sanaa and have, intentionally or no, struck soft targets of no obvious military value, including a refugee camp.”

Hundreds have reportedly died, and the International Committee of the Red Cross, in its appeal for an immediate “humanitarian pause,” describedharrowing conditions for civilians.

The Red Cross said, “hospitals and clinics treating the streams of wounded from across much of Yemen are running low on life-saving medicines and equipment. In many parts of the country, the population is also suffering from fuel and water shortages, while food stocks are quickly depleting. Dozens of people are being killed and wounded every day. The streets of Aden are strewn with dead bodies, and people are afraid to leave their homes.”

Summer Nasser, a human rights activist and blogger in Aden, told Al Jazeerathat it seemed the humanitarian crisis in that city “is actually getting worse by the hour.”

If relief supplies and medical personnel are unable to reach affected areas, Robert Mardini, head of Red Cross operations in the Near and Middle East, warned that “many more will die.”

Russia similarly appealed to the United Nations Security Council, pressing for suspensions of the airstrikes to allow evacuation of foreign civilians and diplomats and demanding rapid and unhindered humanitarian access. The council met Saturday in New York to consider the proposal, but made no decisions.

BBC reports that the council’s president, Dina Kawar, who is also Jordan’s UN ambassador, said members needed time to “reflect on the proposal.”

According to Al Jazeera:

Saudi Arabian Brigadier General Ahmed al-Asiri, a spokesman for the Arab coalition, told a news conference that aid “will come when we are able to set the conditions [so] that this aid will benefit the population”.

He said the coalition requires that aid delivery does not interfere with the military operation, that aid workers are not put at risk, and that supplies do not fall into the wrong hands.

“We don’t want to supply the militias,” Asiri said.

Meanwhile, the Guardian reported that three Arab-American advocacy groups—The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus (ALC)—have created StuckInYemen.com as part of a campaign to highlight the plight of Yemeni Americans, currently trapped in the war-torn country, who fear they have been abandoned by their own government.

In Yemen, Red Cross reports aid blockade by Saudi air campaign as medics say 185 lives lost in Aden battle

April 4, 2015 by Nasheman

A UN count earlier this week estimates some 519 people have been killed and almost 1,700 wounded in Yemen in the last two weeks. (AFP/File)

by Al Bawaba

Heavy clashes between rival militias has left at least 185 people dead and wounded 1,200 others in Yemen’s port city of Aden, a medical official told the AFP Saturday.

Despite the toll coming from the latest battles between warring militias in the ciy, the medical official believes some two thirds of Aden’s casualties are civilians.

The last stronghold for embattled Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, Aden has been a strategic battleground for Shiite Houthi rebels and the pro-government militias trying to restore Hadi’s control on the ground with help from Saudi-led coalition air power above.

Aden Health Department Director Al-Kheder Lassouar told the news agency the casualty and injury count, came from local hospitals, who began tracking the numbers on March 26, and refers only to casualties that occured as a result of militia clashes in Aden. The count does not include casualties from the side of the Houthis and their allies, the director explained, as they often do not bring their injured to public hospitals, and also excludes death tolls resulting from Saudi-led airstrikes in the country.

Under the weight of a mounting injury and death count, Lassouar said the city’s hospitals were inn eed of international assistance and supplies.

A UN count given Thursday estimates some 519 people have died and almost 1,700 wounded across the war-torn country in the last two weeks, but did not specify whether the number also included fighters.

Since Saudi Arabia launched its air campaign against the Houthis on March 26, international powers have voiced concern about the escalating humanitarian crisis unfolding in the country. The International Red Cross said Saturday three aid and medical staff shipments have been blocked from entering Yemen because of the Saudi-led coalition, Reuters reported, which is currently in control of the war-torn nation’s air space and port access.

The international aid organization is seeking secure air space for two planes carrying bulk medical supplies and medical and water sanitation items to the capital Sanaa, in addition to a boat to carry a surgical team to Aden. The group says Saudi’s coalition has so far blocked their efforts. Fellow aid organization Medecins Sans Frontieres has made similar claims against the coalition, saying restictions on Yemeni air space and port access has prevented them from delivering vital medical supplies to civilians trapped between the warring groups across the chaotic country.

The claims come on the heels of a Russian push for humanitarian pauses in the Saudi air campaign to minimize the crushing blow to civilian lives the deepening crisis has caused so far. The 15-member UN Security Council will meet Saturday in the US to discuss Russia’s request.

664 Indians return from strife-torn Yemen

April 4, 2015 by Nasheman

Mumbai/Kochi: Over 660 Indian nationals evacuated from Yemen arrived home by two IAF planes and a special Air India flight tonight, taking the total number of evacuees who have been safely brought back from the strife-torn country to 1022.

While two Indian Air Force planes carrying 334 people landed in Mumbai past 11 PM, a special Air India flight with 330 Indians reached Kochi airport post midnight.

They were part of evacuees who were brought to Djibouti from Sanaa earlier in the day today.

The two Air Force C-17 Globemasters which landed in Mumbai carried among others, 306 evacuees — 251 men, 38 women, 17 children — rescued by Navy vessel INS Sumitra.

In Kochi, the evacuees, including nurses and workers, were welcomed at the airport by Kerala Minister for Diaspora K C Joseph along with state government officials.

Yesterday, 358 Indians evacuated from the Yemen were brought home by two IAF planes. The first plane carrying 168 people, mostly nurses from Kerala, had landed at Kochi airport, while the second plane carrying 190 Indian nationals had landed in Mumbai.

Yemen has been witnessing fierce battle between Saudi-led coalition and Shiite rebels, who have battled their way into the heart of the country’s main southern city Aden where fighting raged in the former stronghold of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi who has fled overseas.

(PTI)

Al Qaeda frees 300 inmates in Yemen jailbreak

April 2, 2015 by Nasheman

Khalid Batarfi, a senior Al Qaeda figure who had been held for more than four years, was among more than 300 prisoners who escaped from the jai. — Reuters/file

Aden: In a surprise attack, Al Qaeda militants stormed a prison in southeastern Yemen on Thursday, freeing several hundred inmates including one of their leaders, a security official said.

Two prison guards and five inmates were killed in clashes, the official said.

Qaeda militants stormed the center of the city of al-Mukalla, the capital of the southeastern province of Hadramawt, which was still controlled by pro-Hadi forces.

The militants also clashed with troops guarding the local adminstration complex in the city, a branch of the central bank and the police headquarters.

Khalid Batarfi, a senior Al Qaeda figure who had been held for more than four years, was among more than 300 prisoners who escaped from the jail in Hadramawt province, the official told AFP.

Batarfi is among Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s (AQAP) top regional commanders, known for his leading role in a 2011-2012 battle with Yemeni government troops during which extremists seized swathes of territory in the south and east.

The remote area is also the ancestral home of former al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, whose father was born in a valley before moving to neighbouring Saudi Arabia.

Yemen has descended further into chaos since a Saudi-led coalition launched air strikes a week ago against positions held by Shia rebels and their allies across the deeply tribal country.

Observers have warned that Yemen-based AQAP, classified by the United States as the network’s deadliest franchise, could exploit the unrest to strengthen its presence in the country.

(Agencies)

IAF plane carrying 168 Indian nationals from Yemen lands in Kochi

April 2, 2015 by Nasheman

Kochi: An IAF plane carrying 168 Indian nationals evacuated from Yemen landed in the government’s first major mission to rescue Indians stranded in the strife-torn nation.

The Indian nationals, including nurses and workers, among others, reached home by the special flight–Indian Air Force’s C17 Globemasters– bringing an end to their about a week-long ordeal.

The flight landed at 2 a.m.

The evacuees were welcomed at the airport by Kerala Minister for Diaspora K C Joseph, PWD Minister Ibrahim Kunju and Ernakulam District Collector M G Rajamanikyam.

They were part of as many as 350 Indians who yesterday reached at Djibouti after being evacuated on a Navy vessel from Aden, the seaport city of Yemen.

Parents of Jincy and Tincy, two nurses working with government hospitals in Yemen, are concerned about their elder daughter whose flight from Sana’a was cancelled even after a boarding pass was issued.

Talking to PTI from Kochi airport, mother of the nurses, Omana, hailing from Vadakkancherry of Palakkad district, said only Jincy, working in Aden, could reach home safely.

“We are happy that our daughter Jincy is coming back on the special flight. But we are concerned about the safety our elder daughter Tincy who is in Sana’a. We hoped that she would also be reaching safely tonight.

“Jincy could not come as the flight did not take off because of the last minute developments at Sana’a airport,” said Omana who came to the airport along with her husband Soman to receive their daughters.

A Kerala government official said the Non-Resident Keralites Affairs (Norka) cell would give Rs 2000 each to the people who returned from Yemen at the airport besides providing them free transportation facilities to reach home.

A spokesperson in the External Affairs Ministry has said of 350 evacuees, 206 belong to Kerala, 40 are from Tamil Nadu, 31 from Maharashtra, 23 from West Bengal and 22 from Delhi besides other states.

Another Air Force flight with 190 Indians evacuated from strife-torn Yemen landed at Mumbai airport at 3.30 a.m. on Thursday.

The Central Railway is providing food and assistance with ticketing and is making arrangements for their further journey home.

The Indians were evacuated late on Monday night by INS Sumitra, which was diverted from its anti-piracy patrol in the region. It waited for hours to get local clearances as heavy fighting was reported in the city.