Armies of Liberation

IDP’s in Yemen exceed a half million: 300K Saada, 100K Abyan, 200K (at least) Somalis; one doctor per 100K in some areas, one third of children malnourished, education on hold, humanitarian access denied and the whole UN relief project is underfunded by 40%:

Raxanreeb: U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos said millions of people in Yemen face “a daily struggle for survival” due to conflict, poverty, drought, soaring food prices and collapsing state services. (Read on …)

About 275,000 still homeless after a brutal Yemeni/Saudi air campaign in the Saada governorate during the 6th outbreak of the Saada War. About another 70,000 as a result of the AQAP occupation of Zinjibar and other southern towns, About 10,000 displaced from Arhab and another 1000 in Taiz.

Governorate Number of IDPs Source
Sa’ada 110,000 UNHCR (31/05/2011)
Hajjah 105,673 UNHCR (31/05/2011)
Amran 41,996 UNHCR (31/05/2011)
Al-Jawf 24,491 UNHCR (31/05/2011)
Aden 62,079 Government (July 2011)
Lahj 15,859 Government (July 2011)
Abyan 13,349 Government (July 2011)
Sana’a 2,020 UNHCR (June 2011)
Total 375,467

New Displacement Figures since 15 July (Unverified)
Al-Jawf *1,500-3,500 July 2011
Arhab/Amran *9,500 18/07 – 31/07/2011
Shabwa *826 2/08/2011
Taiz *1,000 17/07/2011
Total *12,826 – 14,826

Update: a link would be nice, no? Relief Web

Hood said in a statement that it formed the new teams as a result of the tragic events that accelerated in areas of Abyan, Arhab and other flashpoints, and the resulting humanitarian situation and deteriorating conditions of the civilian population especially the vulnerable groups of society including women, children and the infirm, as Hood has received reports of executions of prisoners en masse and the repeated use of weapons in the bombing of civilian areas and military and mosques.

Ahmed Saleh, head of the RG and counter-terror chief, commanded Yemen’s military forces during the 6th Saada War during which many crimes against humanity were committed including bombing refugee camps and a hospital, denial of food, medical care and international aid, and over 300,000 internal refugees were largely left without support. Bombing civilian areas in Yemen since the rev includes Ibb, Taiz, Arhab and Nehm in Sanaa, and others around the country.

The humanitarian crisis is deepening and SEYAJ urges relief convoys to the starving people displaced to Aden and Lahj

An appeal call No(2) to save the people in Abyan

Issued by the Emergency Cell in Seyaj
Yemen- Sana’a- June 22nd -2011

The Emergency Cell in Seyaj organization for childhood protection calls to declare Abyan governorate as a disastrous area by all the standards.

Seyaj directs its second humanitarian appeal to all the Yemeni people to send urgent humanitarian relief convoys to the victims in Abyan of the dirty security political game that displaced , killed and violated the lives, humanity and dignity of at least more than forty thousand families.

Moreover, Seyaj calls the Arabic, Islamic and international associations and humanitarian relief organizations to send urgent humanitarian relief convoys to Abyan victims in Aden and Lahj governorates.

Seyaj also calls the acting president to take concrete actions to save the lives of his people and clan in Abyan.
Seyaj confirms that the areas of war against Al-Qaeda as called are free of country’s institutions that are capable of performing its duty to displaced people in Abyan, Aden and Lahj ,as the first responsibility lies on the Yemeni people in all its political& social activities, humanitarian organizations, religious men , youth , politicians and others of the society components. (Read on …)

The Houthis returned the Saudi soldiers they had captured as a condition of the cease fire. The continued incarceration of Yemenis in Saudi Arabia is a sore spot, especially as the PR notes, there’s been videos leaked of beatings. Saudi Arabia refouled, refused entry to, civilians seeking safety from the bombing, a violation of international law. The Saudi bombing of Saada was indiscriminate, and the arbitrary arrests and continued detention of hundreds of Yemenis without charge are also illegal under international law. You’d think the Saudi Arabia would just return the prisoners and be done with the issue but apparently they are busy outlawing protests of their own. YOHR contact information below. I also have the list of names in Arabic.

The Yemen Center for Human Rights requests from King of Saudi Arabia to direct and order to reveal the names of all the Yemeni prisoners and work to release them promptly (Read on …)

Yes they do. Written by a former consultant,

United Nations mistreats refugees Yemen Times

Published:16-12-2010
The UNHCR mission in Sana’a, since it opened its office, has been arrogant in the way it treats refugees. It is still acting in a proud manner towards refugees. It is notorious for corruption and trades on the plight of refugees. A decade ago I worked as a social consultant for the UNHCR in Sana’a. I did not love the practices of this office, famous for its many staff changes, because of corruption. It has been proven that most of its staff have been involved in cases of bribery, which prompted me to retire from that sick office. (Read on …)

Yemen Post: At least 30 people, deported from Saudi Arabia to the Yemeni border area of Haradh, died in the last four weeks after being stranded without food or water. (Read on …)

The arms flow between the two is well established. If we recall the eight foreigners arrested, and later released, for trying to ship weapons to Somali’s ICU in 2006. And the connection of Anwar al Awlaki with that case. Afterwards, numerous Somali Islamists came to Yemen. The weapons have been flowing from Yemen via Faris Manna, legally he claims. The boats delivering the refugees over the last several years wouldn’t return empty.

Telegraph: Yemeni officials have claimed that members of the al-Shabaab terrorist group have been arrested in refugee camps for Somalis. The government fears that refugee camps such as Al-Kharaz, which now houses 18,000 out of an estimated 2-300,000 Somali refugees in Yemen, could become recruiting grounds for radicals.

Officials also claim there are “regular links”, including arms transfers between al-Shabaab and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the group accused of planting parcel bombs on planes last month.

“I see Shabaab people on the streets of Aden,” said one former Somali airport official who fled with his family when he was threatened and now lives in a fly-blown two-room hut in the al-Kharaz refugee camp, two hours’ drive into the desert from the port city.