DUBAI: A UN food agency staff member has been killed in an attack in Taiz province in southern Yemen, the organization and the health minister of the internationally recognized government said Friday.
Health minister Qasem Buhaibeh had tweeted his condolences to the World Food Programme staffer’s family, calling for security forces to “arrest the criminals” responsible for the killing.
A WFP spokesperson later confirmed the death to AFP, saying: “WFP is deeply saddened that a dedicated staff member was killed in Yemen today by unknown gunmen.
“We cannot comment further at this time. More information will be shared as appropriate,” the spokesperson added.
Buhaibeh had previously identified the staffer before later removing his name and nationality.
The head of the Yemeni presidential council, Rashad Al-Alimi, meanwhile ordered the pursuit of the “criminal elements involved in carrying out the armed attack that resulted in the death of a UN employee and the wounding of others in the city of Turbah”, according to the Yemeni news agency, Saba Net.
Alimi spoke by phone with Taiz governor Nabil Shamsan who said that the attacker had been identified, according to preliminary intelligence.
Fighting between a Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen’s internationally recognized government and the Iran-backed Houthi rebels has eased over the past year, although sporadic attacks continue.
Taiz is controlled by the internationally recognized government but is surrounded and blockaded by areas under Houthi control.
In a further sign of easing tensions, Yemeni Airways flew pilgrims direct from Sanaa to Saudi Arabia for last month’s annual Hajj pilgrimage.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed directly and indirectly in more than eight years of fighting in Yemen, resulting in one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
The war has displaced 4.5 million Yemenis internally and pushed more than two-thirds of the population into poverty.
There have also been previous attacks on aid workers throughout the years of the conflict.
In 2018, Lebanese aid worker Hanna Lahoud, who worked for the International Committee of the Red Cross, was killed by unknown assailants in Taiz province.
UN food agency worker killed in south Yemen
https://arab.news/cnfds
UN food agency worker killed in south Yemen
- Health minister Qasem Buhaibeh had tweeted his condolences to the World Food Programme staffer's family
- A WFP spokesperson later confirmed the death saying: “WFP is deeply saddened that a dedicated staff member was killed in Yemen today by unknown gunmen”
UN rights chief Shocked by ‘unbearable’ Darfur atrocities
- Mediation efforts have failed to produce a ceasefire, even after international outrage intensified last year with reports of mass killings, rape, and abductions during the RSF’s takeover of El-Fasher in Darfur
PORT SUDAN: Nearly three years of war have put the Sudanese people through “hell,” the UN’s rights chief said on Sunday, blasting the vast sums spent on advanced weaponry at the expense of humanitarian aid and the recruitment of child soldiers.
Since April 2023, Sudan has been gripped by a conflict between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces that has left tens of thousands of people dead and around 11 million displaced.
Speaking in Port Sudan during his first wartime visit, UN Human Rights commissioner Volker Turk said the population had endured “horror and hell,” calling it “despicable” that funds that “should be used to alleviate the suffering of the population” are instead spent on advanced weapons, particularly drones.
More than 21 million people are facing acute food insecurity, and two-thirds of Sudan’s population is in urgent need of humanitarian aid, according to the UN.
In addition to the world’s largest hunger and displacement crisis, Sudan is also facing “the increasing militarization of society by all parties to the conflict, including through the arming of civilians and recruitment and use of children,” Turk added.
He said he had heard testimony of “unbearable” atrocities from survivors of attacks in Darfur, and warned of similar crimes unfolding in the Kordofan region — the current epicenter of the fighting.
Testimony of these atrocities must be heard by “the commanders of this conflict and those who are arming, funding and profiting from this war,” he said.
Mediation efforts have failed to produce a ceasefire, even after international outrage intensified last year with reports of mass killings, rape, and abductions during the RSF’s takeover of El-Fasher in Darfur.
“We must ensure that the perpetrators of these horrific violations face justice regardless of the affiliation,” Turk said on Sunday, adding that repeated attacks on civilian infrastructure could constitute “war crimes.”
He called on both sides to “cease intolerable attacks against civilian objects that are indispensable to the civilian population, including markets, health facilities, schools and shelters.”
Turk again warned on Sunday that crimes similar to those seen in El-Fasher could recur in volatile Kordofan, where the RSF has advanced, besieging and attacking several key cities.
Hundreds of thousands face starvation across the region, where more than 65,000 people have been displaced since October, according to the latest UN figures.
