A Yemeni camp is witnessing a conflict that has forced millions of people to leave their homes, described as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.
Forced to flee the fighting in Yemen’s brutal war for the second time in seven years, Yehya Hayba and her family shelter from the winter cold in a tent in a refugee camp in the north of the country.
Yehya Hayba, his wife and their seven children fled to Al-Sumya camp east of Marib city, the last government stronghold in northern Yemen, following intensified fighting in the area.
Six more families live in the tent, a total of 35 people who sleep on makeshift beds of straw. “We are in the desert. There are no humanitarian services, schools, hospitals or anything else, ”said Hayba, 39, describing the situation in the camp.
Al-Sumya, with its makeshift tents, has had a steady stream of displaced people, with hundreds of people arriving each month, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The camp, with few resources, is witness to a conflict that has forced millions of people to leave their homes, which the UN called the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.
“We have been displaced two or three times already,” said Ali Abdullah, “another inhabitant of the camp. “We have not received blankets or mattresses and the cold is going to kill us.”
“We suffer a lot of things here,” he told AFP. “We can’t put up a curtain for privacy and we can’t even have a proper bathroom … Three or four children share each blanket,” he said.
“They have nothing”
The Houthi rebels, backed by Iran, launched an assault on the strategic city of Marib in February and intensified their campaign in September.
Despite aerial bombardments by the international coalition led by Saudi Arabia, the Houthis say they have tightened their siege on Marib, with fighting in the north, west and south of the city.
Angela Wells, an IOM spokeswoman, said there were about 60 families in Al Sumya as of this month, when about 1,200 families arrived.
He indicated that IOM began offering services in the camp, such as emergency supplies, potable water, and the construction of latrines and water tanks.
But concern grows as winter progresses.
“With the arrival of the winter months, we are concerned that many do not have clothing, blankets and other basic goods that they will need to be safe and warm, especially those who are in makeshift shelters that are not equipped to protect people”, Wells told AFP.
Marib had between 20,000 and 30,000 inhabitants before the war, but its population grew to hundreds of thousands when the settlers began to flee to the city due to its relative stability.
But with 139 displacement camps in the province, with some 2.2 million people, many displaced civilians are back in the line of fire.
More than 45,000 people have had to leave their homes due to heavy fighting in the last two months in Marib province, according to the IOM.
On Sunday, the UN children’s agency UNICEF said it is supporting more than 7,500 people in the camp with clean water, hygiene kits and portable latrines.
Ali al-Habbash, supervisor of the Al-Sumya camp, said people keep coming.
“There was no other shelter, so we received them in this camp with the other families, and they have crowded on top of each other.”
“There is no adequate shelter, no place to sleep or enough blankets … They have nothing,” he added. (I)
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