Security
Yemen: Five killed in separatist protest in south
Sanaa, 25 Nov. (AKI) - Five people were killed when security forces clashed with separatists in southern Yemen on Wednesday, as the government faced further conflict with militants in the north. Witnesses said security forces had tried to break up a demonstration of around 1,000 people in the city of Ataq in Shabwa province after separatists held a rally in favour of the former south Yemeni state which was united with Sanaa in 1990.
Meanwhile, earlier on Wednesday, Saudi Arabia denied reports that its military crossed into Yemeni territory to attack Shia militants.
A senior defence ministry official said reports in various media that Saudi forces had attacked the rebels inside Yemen territory were "lies" and "fabrications," the state news agency SPA reported early on Wednesday.
The unnamed defence official said that Saudi King Abdullah had expressly ordered the armed forces only to expel the Houthi rebels from Saudi territory and not to cross the border,
On Tuesday the Houthis who are involved in in a five-year-old war with the Yemeni government said they had repelled an assault involving air raids and ground shelling launched by Saudi forces on the border on Monday.
"The Saudi attack continued on three fronts, but two were broken by Monday evening," it said.
Meanwhile the executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme has expressed concern about providing safe humanitarian access to civilians displaced by fighting in northern Yemen.
“We are still worried about the situation in Saada town, which has been virtually cut off from the rest of the world for more than three months now, " WFP executive director Josette Sheridan said in a statement.
"We are calling for localised humanitarian ceasefires and humanitarian corridors to allow for safe and uninterrupted access to families who remain trapped by the conflicts so that further displacement and suffering can be avoided."
WFP and its partners have managed to get food assistance to 118,000 internally displaced persons.
The organisation said an estimated 175,000 people had been affected by the conflict in Yemen since 2004, including those displaced by the latest surge in fighting between government forces and Houthi rebels that began in August.
WFP has also been able to open a corridor through Saudi Arabia, and so far one convoy had reached 10,000 people in that area and another convoy had just crossed over the border yesterday with food for 15,000 people.
Plans were underway to broaden that out to the entire vulnerable population of under-five children in Yemen, upwards of 900,000 children in the coming year, she said.
Meanwhile, earlier on Wednesday, Saudi Arabia denied reports that its military crossed into Yemeni territory to attack Shia militants.
A senior defence ministry official said reports in various media that Saudi forces had attacked the rebels inside Yemen territory were "lies" and "fabrications," the state news agency SPA reported early on Wednesday.
The unnamed defence official said that Saudi King Abdullah had expressly ordered the armed forces only to expel the Houthi rebels from Saudi territory and not to cross the border,
On Tuesday the Houthis who are involved in in a five-year-old war with the Yemeni government said they had repelled an assault involving air raids and ground shelling launched by Saudi forces on the border on Monday.
"The Saudi attack continued on three fronts, but two were broken by Monday evening," it said.
Meanwhile the executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme has expressed concern about providing safe humanitarian access to civilians displaced by fighting in northern Yemen.
“We are still worried about the situation in Saada town, which has been virtually cut off from the rest of the world for more than three months now, " WFP executive director Josette Sheridan said in a statement.
"We are calling for localised humanitarian ceasefires and humanitarian corridors to allow for safe and uninterrupted access to families who remain trapped by the conflicts so that further displacement and suffering can be avoided."
WFP and its partners have managed to get food assistance to 118,000 internally displaced persons.
The organisation said an estimated 175,000 people had been affected by the conflict in Yemen since 2004, including those displaced by the latest surge in fighting between government forces and Houthi rebels that began in August.
WFP has also been able to open a corridor through Saudi Arabia, and so far one convoy had reached 10,000 people in that area and another convoy had just crossed over the border yesterday with food for 15,000 people.
Plans were underway to broaden that out to the entire vulnerable population of under-five children in Yemen, upwards of 900,000 children in the coming year, she said.
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