United Nations Radio

Displaced Yemeni children

The UN Chief Humanitarian Coordinator, in Yemen on the second day of a 4-day visit to the country, is warning of the increasingly dire circumstances facing a growing numer of people forced from their homes by the ongoing conflict between the Government and the Al Houthi rebels. UN Radio's Samir Imtair spoke to John Holmes by phone to find out what he had seen so far.

Samir: Mr. John Holmes, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, you have arrived to Yemen. Will you update us about the humanitarian situation there now?

Holmes: Yes, of course I've only been here for one day so I haven't been able to see or talk to everybody. What I was able to do today was go to a camp in the governorate of Hajjah, where people have taken refuge from the fighting in Sa'dah governorate, a camp of about seven thousand people with a population growing every day because people are still fleeing the violence and need looking after. I think the camp is in civil shape and I think the humanitarian assistance we're giving is reaching the right places. Of course, there are an awful lot of people outside the camp because a lot of people culturally don't want to be in a camp and therefore they're either with host families or taking shelter on common land or whatever so need to make sure we can reach them too. The biggest issue is in fact not in defense of people we're seeing today because they are getting help and they are accessible, it's the people who are not accessible at the moment, particularly in the Sa'dah governorate where the main fighting is particularly in Sa'dah City where a lot of people have taken refuge and have been displaced for some time now. But also some of the other governorates around Sa'dah where we are having great difficulty of access because of insecurity in setting up camps because of some cultural issues and some land issues, so we've got a long way to go to get the access we need and to be able to give all the services we need to everybody.

Samir: Did you meet with any of the Yemeni officials, high officials, and discuss these issues with them?

Holmes: Yes, so far I was talking mainly to the local officials, the governor of Haja. The governor and his deputies have taken a very close interest and a very positive interest in the camp and in the treatment of IDPs (internally displaced persons) who have taken refugee there. They are putting a very huge and commendable effort into making sure the people are being looked after, and I was accompanied by one or two senior officials also from Sanaa, but tomorrow and the next day I'll be in Sana'a talking to the government about the border issues of access, and of course about protection of civilians and respect for international humanitarian law in the fighting that's going on quite severely in some places.

Samir: Mr. Holmes, the flash appeal that was announced for Yemen, a total of $23.7 million - there's not much response to that appeal. Will you update on that issue, and what is being done?

Holmes: Yes, I think we are making progress on that. I think that the commitments that have been made to the appeal and the pledges will now get us into a position where we're about 20% funded, in other words you've got 5 or 6 million dollars in the appeal or to the appeal, and there are of course people who are funding projects outside the appeal as well, so there are some resource coming in, but not enough. One of the things I want to do is to make sure that the international community, the international donor community is aware of the fears of what's happening in this area, and of the need to make sure we have enough resources to deal with it. So I'll be talking about that as I say for the rest of my visit and of course afterward.

Samir: And do you think there is something needed to be done by the neighboring countries?

Holmes: Well, I think we need to keep working with Saudi Arabia to make sure we can have access from Saudi Arabia into the very north of the Sa'dah governorate because that would give us an alternative way of getting in, and there's some issues there about people who are trying to flee across the border and then getting pushed back - we need to keep working on that.  We could find ways of reaching people. I think we have some stocks of food and other supplies - that's not the biggest problem at the moment - the problem is actually reaching people, and also assessing exactly what the situation is because we don't have access to the area where the fighting is, and very few people do, it's very difficult to know quite how bad the problems are, quite how many people are displaced, and therefore how much more we're going to need in the future. So that's another issue we need to discuss further with the government.

Samir: Mr. John Holmes, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. Thank you so much.

Duration: 4'11"