UN calls on Saudi Arabia to grant Journalists access to Yemen

YemenExtra

United Nations spokesman Farhan Haq demanded access to the “man-made catastrophe” in Yemen after Saudi Arabia imposing a blockade on the war-hit country denied entry to three reporters traveling on a UN aid flight to the Yemeni capital Sana’a,  on Wednesday.

We do want not just to be able to bring in aid, which is of course a crucial aspect of the work we do, but we also want the world to know what’s going on. And so steps like this do not help, because again this has been a large man-made humanitarian problem, the world needs to know and journalists need to have access, he added.

Haq made the remarks after the Saudis blocked a United Nations charter flight carrying aid agency staff from landing in Sana’a, which is in control of the Houthi Ansarullah movement, on the grounds that it could not guarantee the security of three journalists working for British state-run broadcaster BBC on board.

After blocking the flight, Saudi officials claimed that all inbound flights to Yemen must land in the country’s southern port city of Aden, which is under the control of the former government, headed by former President Abd Rabuuh Mansour Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh.

The Houthis took control of state affairs in 2014 after Hadi resigned, despite Ansarullah’s calls on him to review the decision. Hadi’s resignation created more chaos in a country already grappling with al-Qaeda terror threats.