“I Am Shocked by What I Saw in Yemen”: UN Under-Secretary-General
YemenExtra
M.A.
The United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mark Lokoc, left Sana’a after a visit to Yemen for several days, during which he was briefed on the deteriorating humanitarian situation caused by the Saudi-led war and siege.
“I have been shocked by the tremendous impact of this human-induced conflict, the fastest outbreak of cholera and the world’s greatest food insecurity crisis, as well as the conditions associated with large-scale displacement of people,” the UN official told a news conference on Saturday.
Moreover, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs said he had seen massive damage to infrastructure in Yemen as a result of the bombing.
“Everywhere I saw it, I saw great destruction in roads, bridges, factories, hotels, homes, and other places. I visited hospitals where there was hardly any electricity or water and children suffering from severe malnutrition,” he added.
He pointed out that he discussed with the concerned authorities ways to enhance cooperation and coordination with the United Nations on the need for everyone to make more efforts in order to ensure humanitarian access to those in need, in addition to facilitating the delivery of four mobile cranes to the port of Hodeidah and instal them.
Mark Lokoc said he had met with a number of displaced people out of two million who had been forced to leave their homes to avoid fighting and met health workers who had not been paid for a year.
“I have heard stories of children who have not gone to school for almost a year,” he said.
Lokoc called on the concerned authorities to rapidly hand over salaries to employees and reopen Sana’a International Airport for commercial and humanitarian flights and improve the operation of ports, especially the port of Hodeidah.
He reiterated that the United Nations and its partners are able to expand their scope further, calling on donor countries to provide more support and funding to facilitate the work of the United Nations and expand its humanitarian functions.
During Lokoc’s departure, Minister of Human Rights Alia Faysal Abdul Latif and Head of the Department of International Organizations and Conferences, Yahya al-Sayagi, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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