LONDON, Aug 21, 2023 (AFP) – Saudi border guards fired “like rain” on Ethiopian migrants trying to cross into the Gulf kingdom from Yemen, killing hundreds since last year, Human Rights Watch said in a report Monday. The allegations, described as “unfounded” by a Saudi government source, point to a significant escalation of abuses along the perilous route from the Horn of Africa to Saudi Arabia, where hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians live and work. […]
Tag: Yemen
Leaks, repairs, stress: how skeleton crew stopped Red Sea oil disaster
By Robbie COREY-BOULET Agence France-Presse ABOARD FSO SAFER, Yemen (AFP) — When an alarm sounded on the decaying oil tanker off Yemen’s coast, signaling a leak in its engine room, Hussein Nasser quickly sprang into action. Working around the clock for days, he and the half dozen other people on board the FSO Safer fashioned makeshift iron strips to patch a burst pipe, before divers arrived to install a permanent steel plate to keep seawater […]
No alternative to risky oil tanker salvage in Yemen, UN says
By Amélie BOTTOLLIER-DEPOIS Agence France-Presse UNITED NATIONS, United States, June 1, 2023 (AFP) — Transferring more than a million barrels of oil from an abandoned tanker anchored off the shore of Yemen comes with “palpable risks” — but doing nothing could lead to a devastating oil spill, a senior UN official said Wednesday. “If something were to go wrong, indeed, many questions will be asked,” said Achim Steiner, head of the United Nations Development Program, […]
Yemen stampede during charity distribution kills 85
SANAA, Yemen (AFP) — More than 80 people were killed and hundreds injured in a crush at a charity distribution event in war-torn Yemen on Thursday, Huthi officials said after one of the deadliest stampedes in a decade. The latest tragedy to strike the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country came days ahead of Eid al-Fitr, a Muslim holiday celebrated around the world by feasting to mark the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. Hundreds of […]
Yemen’s children threatened by aid funding shortfall: UN
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AFP) — The UN warned Friday it could be forced to slash support for children in Yemen without a funding boost, a war-torn country where it said dozens already die daily from “preventable causes”. “More than 540,000 children under the age of five (are) suffering life-threatening severe acute malnutrition, with one child continuing to die every 10 minutes from preventable causes,” the UN children’s agency UNICEF said. “If funding is not […]
Yemen warring parties agree prisoner swap as peace efforts accelerate
by Hashem Osseiran Agence France-Presse DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AFP) — Yemen’s Huthi rebels and its internationally recognized government reached an agreement Monday to exchange more than 880 prisoners, the United Nations confirmed, while urging the two parties, at war since 2014, to continue talks. The agreed exchange comes after Saudi Arabia and Iran, who back opposing sides in the conflict, this month moved towards restoring diplomatic ties after a seven-year rupture. The parties “agreed […]
UN appeals for $4.3 bn to help millions in war-torn Yemen
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The United Nations said it needed $4.3 billion this year to help millions of people in war-ravaged Yemen, ahead of a donors’ conference on Monday. Aid agencies need the money to help more than 17 million people in the country, which has been devastated by an eight-year civil war. The conflict has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and plunged the poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula into one of the […]
US navy says seizes ammunition en route from Iran to Yemen
Manama, Bahrain (AFP) The US Navy said Saturday it had seized one million rounds of ammunition along with rocket fuses and propellant being smuggled on a fishing trawler from Iran to war-torn Yemen. The cargo was discovered on Thursday “during a flag verification boarding”, the Bahrain-based United States Fifth Fleet said in a statement, noting it was the “second major illegal weapons seizure within a month” along the maritime route. “This significant interdiction clearly shows […]
Saudi Arabia pushed Yemen’s president to step down: report
WASHINGTON, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Saudi Arabia pushed Yemen’s president to step down earlier this month, and officials have confined him to his home and restricted his communications, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi announced his resignation on April 7, handing his powers to a new leadership council as Yemen entered into a fragile ceasefire that brought a rare pause in the years-long conflict. Citing anonymous Saudi and Yemeni officials, the […]
‘Here there is nothing’: Yemen’s Aden scarred by grinding war
by Shatha Yaish Agence France-Presse ADEN, Yemen (AFP) – Bullet-riddled homes, buildings turned to rubble and countless pictures of “martyrs”: seven years into Yemen’s civil war, the interim capital Aden bears the scars of a conflict that shows no signs of abating. While Aden is now relatively stable, economically the ancient port city has been left on its knees. Water and electricity are intermittent, serving a population that officials say has tripled to more than […]
Saudi oil refinery hit by drone attack
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — A drone attack on an oil refinery in the Saudi capital caused a small fire but no disruption to supplies, officials said Friday, as crude prices soar after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The act of “sabotage and terrorism” follows a series of similar attacks on Saudi facilities by Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels, who are fighting a Saudi-led coalition. The attack took place in the early hours of Thursday morning. “The […]
Ukraine conflict set to make more Yemenis hungry, WFP warns
The UN’s World Food Programme warned Thursday that the Russia-Ukraine conflict will likely increase fuel and food prices in war-torn Yemen, pushing more people into hunger as aid funding dwindles. The announcement came as Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, sending oil prices past $100 per barrel. European wheat prices also hit a record high on expectations of lower supplies as Ukraine and Russia are two of the world’s biggest producers. At the start […]
