UN, Red Cross Reject Saudi Call to Move out of Rebel-Held Areas

By teleSUR

13 February 16

The U.N. and the Red Cross flatly rejected a call by the kingdom to move aid workers in Yemen out of rebel-held areas the Saudi coalition is bombing.

he Red Cross as well as the United Nations rejected Friday a call from Saudi Arabia for aid workers to stay out of rebel-held zones of Yemen that are being targeted by the Saudi-led airstrikes in the country.

The mission of the International Committee of the Red Cross "often necessitates crossing frontlines" and securing access to combat zones, the ICRC's Sanaa spokeswoman Rima Kamal told AFP Friday.

"To reach all those in need in Yemen ... we will continue to seek security guarantees from all parties and in all regions," she said. "We have no plans to change that for the time being, and we remain committed to operate in all regions and to do everything possible to reach the civilians affected."

Meanwhile, the U.N. aid chief Stephen O'Brien also rejected the call by Saudi Arabia and reminded the kingdom of its responsibility to allow humanitarian aid into those areas.

He said in a letter to Saudi Arabia's U.N. ambassador, Abdallah al-Mouallimi, that relief organisations were "delivering life-saving assistance as per internationally recognised principles and will continue to do so."

The reactions from the aid organization comes a day after Saudi Arabia asked the U.N. and other groups in Yemen to move aid workers out of rebel-held areas in order to allow the Saudi coalition to carry out attacks against Ansarullah rebels in those areas.

Saudi Arabia launched the operation in March last year in a bid to reinstate their Yemeni ally, exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, after the rebels took control of the capital Sanaa and other parts of the country. The rebel offensive ousted the Saudi-backed government and forced Hadi to flee to Riyadh.

More than 6,100 people have been killed in the conflict since last March, about half of them civilians, according to U.N. estimates.

At least five countries have ground troops fighting in Yemen including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Sudan, while Colombian mercenaries are also purportedly on the ground.