Mohammed bin Saeed Al-Jaber, Saudi ambassador to Yemen, on Tuesday met with the head of the emergency desk of Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Teresa Sancristobal, and her delegation to review humanitarian efforts and operations implemented in Yemen.
The meeting took place in Al-Jaber’s office in Riyadh. MSF’s regional operations manager, Ahmed Fadel, said his organization “has 1,700 staff working in Yemen, 100 of whom are foreigners while the rest are Yemenis.”
Last year, MSF received more than 800,000 emergency cases and performed more than 65,000 surgeries, he added.
Fadel thanked the Isnad Center and the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSRelief) for helping MSF.
The main challenges facing MSF operations in regions of Yemen controlled by Houthi rebels include injury of medical teams, he said.
Al-Jaber said: “We have discussed mechanisms for benefitting from the support of the member states of the Saudi-led coalition, and how to show those efforts to the people of Yemen and the international community.” A mechanism has been agreed to cooperate with various relevant organizations, he added.
The Isnad Center in Yemen is carrying out Saudi initiatives in response to the UN Humanitarian Response Plan for 2018, in which the UN requested $2.9 billion in humanitarian and relief assistance to Yemen, Al-Jaber said. Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait have provided $1.5 billion, he added.
“King Salman has also ordered the provision of $200 million to the Central Bank of Yemen to alleviate the suffering of the Yemeni people and support the country’s economy,” Al-Jaber said.
