Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen and Djibouti

Uh, the humanitarian situation in Yemen right

now is really worrying. Uh,

we are witnessing a, a new

humanitarian crisis emerging, uh, inside Yemen.

We're talking about Yemen's, uh, western coast

along, uh, the, the Red Sea. In multiple

locations, uh, the latest round of hostilities,

uh, has displaced more than hundred

thousand people inside Yemen.

Uh, we are also seeing thousands of

people crossing the Red Sea, uh, becoming

refugees and arriving inside

Djibouti. The number we have today is more than

two thousand, uh, and four hundred, uh,

people who had to flee these latest round of,

of, uh, clashes. And our colleagues who

are receiving these people

displaced inside Yemen or those who are becoming

refugees are saying they're literally coming with

nothing. Uh, they have just fled the fighting.

Majority of them are, uh, women and, and, and

children. And inside, uh, Djibouti, uh,

UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, is mounting a

humanitarian response, uh, where we are deploying more

colleagues, more resources to help those who

are arriving from

Yemen.

Talk to me about the western areas that you're describing where people are

worst affected. Do your teams have access, and what are they able

to provide?

Uh, let's not forget, uh, working in Yemen even before

this latest round of fighting and, and, and conflict and

hostilities has not been easy. Uh,

Yemen as a location or a country has been in turmoil for, for

too long. Even before, uh, this round

of fighting started, uh, Yemen has a population of

thirty-five million people. Nearly twenty

million people in Yemen were dependent

on humanitarian support. Uh, we also have a

big, uh, population of refugees from Somalia and

Ethiopia in, uh, Yemen also. So it has been

really challenging in terms of access already, and

this just makes our humanitarian response

much more difficult. So that's why those who

have been affected, uh, by this latest round of, uh,

of fighting, we as humanitarians, we need urgent

access to them. Many that we are helping, but we need

more safety for our own colleagues to reach, uh, to those who have

been affected, uh, just now. In Djibouti, UNHCR

is working with the local authorities and with the gover-government for

those who are arriving, uh, there.

We are trying to help the authorities to move, uh, thousands of, uh,

refugees that have arrived from Yemen now, uh, from

the remote location where we can assist them, help them.

But people are saying, or our colleagues

are saying it's really a desperate

situation, both inside Yemen and also in Djibouti.