Yemen

The Yemen office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights confirmed that 52 detainees were among those killed when air strikes hit a former community college compound on the northern outskirts of Dhamar City, United Nations teams in the country reported on Sunday.  As many as 170 detainees were being held there.

Expressing concern by recent developments in south Yemen, including the violent attempt to take over State institutions, the Security Council today called on all involved parties to show restraint and preserve the country’s territorial integrity.

Preliminary reports from medical facilities in Yemen indicate that in the past two days, as many as 13 people have been killed and at least 70 others were wounded during the clashes in Aden and Abyan governorates.

In Central America, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is launching five campaigns designed to underscore the risks of irregular migration and encourage informed decision-making among young migrants.  The campaigns will take place in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua.

UNICEF appealed today for more than $70 million to provide life-saving humanitarian aid to 900,000 children across Venezuela until the end of 2019.  The agency says it is stepping up efforts to help children and families facing food shortages and limited access to health care, safe water and education.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that in Libya at least 90 civilians have been killed and more than 200 injured in and around the southwest town of Murzug since fighting escalated earlier this month.  The United Nations and aid agencies are responding with emergency supplies.

The fragmentation of Yemen is becoming a stronger and more pressing threat, the Security Council heard today, as the top United Nations official in the country cautioned that recent clashes risk further deepening the world’s leading humanitarian crisis and spreading violence to other southern governorates.

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

The World Food Programme (WFP) today welcomed what it called important and positive steps by authorities in Yemen to ensure food aid reaches the most vulnerable in Government-controlled areas.  WFP will resume food distributions after the Eid Al-Adha festival for 850,000 people in Sana’a City.

United Nations humanitarian officials in the Philippines report that the Government declared a national dengue epidemic yesterday.  There have now been more than 146,000 reported cases of dengue fever and 622 confirmed fatalities since the beginning of 2019, mostly affecting children between 5 and 9 years old.