NEW YORK (Dispatches) – The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says that the number of internally displaced persons in Yemen due to the Saudi-led war has reached 4.3 million, of whom two million are children.
“The conflict is the main driver of displacement in Yemen,” UNICEF said on Twitter.
The UN fund has also warned that children represent 28 percent of all suspected cholera and acute watery diarrhoea cases in Yemen. Moreover, it pointed out earlier that around two million children in Yemen need treatment for acute malnutrition. Of these, 360,000 are at risk of death.
The UN warns frequently about the worsening situation in Yemen. It said last year that the country is in the grip of the world’s “worst humanitarian crisis”.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have been waging the war on Yemen since March 2015.
The invasion has been seeking to change Yemen’s ruling structure in favor of the impoverished country’s former Riyadh- and Washington-friendly rulers and crush the Ansarullah resistance movement. The Saudi-led coalition has failed to meet any of its objectives.
The war, with the support of US and Western arms, logistical, as well as the political support on the part of the United States, has killed tens of thousands of Yemenis and turned the entire country into the scene of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
In a latest development, the U.S.’ Special Envoy for Yemen, Tim Lenderking, arrived in Oman on Sunday to discuss ways to end the war in Yemen and save Saudi Arabia from the quagmire, Anadolu Agency reported.
Lenderking met with the Undersecretary of the Omani Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Diplomatic Affairs, Sheikh Khalifa Bin Ali Bin Isa al-Harthi, in Muscat. No further details were given regarding the meeting.
The Sultanate of Oman has played a key role in bridging the gap in views between the Saudi- and UAE-backed mercenaries and militants and the Sana’a-based government in Yemen, taking advantage of its good relationship with the two conflicting parties.