One civilian killed every three hours in Yemen fighting: Oxfam

YemenExtra

M.A.

Oxfam appealed Friday to Britain, the United States and other European governments to suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia because of its indifference to civilian lives in the war in Yemen.

The organization stressed that as a result of the war on Yemen, one civilian is dying every three hours, demanding that the United States, Britain and other European countries to stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia, which has been leading a military coalition against Yemen since March 2015.

“Since August, one civilian is killed every three hours during the clashes in Yemen and many others have died because of disease and hunger,” the humanitarian agency said in a statement.

Oxfam said that according to figures collected by a project, Civilians Impact Monitoring Project, 575 civilians, including 136 children, were killed in the war in Yemen between August 1 and October 15.

After the Saudi intervention in Yemen, in March 2015, when it launched a military campaign alongside with it is regional allies on Yemen, the toll of the killed, according to the United Nations, rose to more than ten thousand civilians, although human rights organizations estimate that the real number of deaths is five times that figure; in addition, the Saudi-led coalition has caused the worst humanitarian crisis in the world .

This week, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock warned that 14 million people could be “on the verge of famine” in the coming months in Yemen if the worsening situation in the country continues.