Links
Humanitarian crisis deepens in Yemen as more flee
Fighting in northern Yemen is spreading and the five-year conflict has now driven 250,000 people from their homes, deepening the humanitarian crisis, the United Nations refugee agency said on Friday.
The number of displaced in the Arab world's poorest country has doubled since August when the latest round of fighting between the government and Houthi rebels erupted, it said.
"The fighting has gradually moved from Saada city and its surroundings towards the northwest," Andrej Mahecic, spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, told a news briefing.
This had led to "a steady influx" of around 1,000 families, some 7,000 people, arriving in Hajjah province each week over the past six weeks, he said. Most families were from Saada.
Fighting between Yemeni troops and Houthi rebels, who say the Zaidi Shi'ite minority suffers discrimination and neglect, has flared on and off since 2004 in Saada province.