UN refugee agency reaches embattled Yemeni city

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Media for Freedom

<h4 id="story-headline">In 'breakthrough,' UN refugee agency reaches embattled Yemeni city with life-saving aid</h4><div id="PhotoHolder3"><a rel="gallery-default" href="http://static.un.org/News/dh/photos/large/2016/February/Yemen_Taiz_OCHA.... id="PhotoCrop" class="lightbox" title="Girls fetching water in Mawyah district, Taiz. This role often falls on the shoulders of girls and young women, often at the expense of their education. Credit: OCHA"><img style="margin-top: -19px;" src="http://static.un.org/News/dh/photos/large/2016/February/Yemen_Taiz_OCHA.... title="Girls fetching water in Mawyah district, Taiz. This role often falls on the shoulders of girls and young women, often at the expense of their education. Credit: OCHA" border="1"></a><p class="phtocaption">Girls
fetching water in Mawyah district, Taiz. This role often falls on the
shoulders of girls and young women, often at the expense of their
education. Credit: OCHA</p></div>

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<p> <a href="http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=53526#">Source:UN News.<br></a></p>
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23 March 2016 – Calling it a “breakthrough,” the United Nations
refugee agency today reported that earlier this week, 13 trucks managed
to deliver blankets, mattresses, and other badly needed emergency relief
items to Taizz governorate in Yemen. </p><p>
It was the first time a convoy from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (<a href="http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home">UNHCR</a>) made it through all the way from Aden to Taizz, which is located in the highlands of country’s southwest. </p><p>
Dispatched in coordination with the Government of Yemen’s High Relief
Committee, it arrived on Sunday in Mashra’a Wa Hadnan, a district
immediately south of the embattled Taizz city centre. Distribution is
reportedly starting this week for 500 displaced people, others who have
returned to Taizz, plus local families who have been affected by the
conflict. </p><p>
Meanwhile, another 13 trucks are on their way to nearby Sabir Al Mawadim
district and will be distributed among another 500 families. In
Mashra’a Wa Hadnan, the situation is now calm according to the UN, and
some displaced families have been returning to their homes, while
fighting persists on the eastern part of Sabir Al Mawadim. </p><p>
“The two districts host over 7,500 displaced people. It is the first
time that assistance has been delivered there using the direct route
from Aden,” said UNHCR Representative in Yemen, Johannes van der Klaauw,
in a press release. </p><p>
“The wider governorate of Taizz hosts 555,048 internally displaced
people, the biggest concentration in the country and equal to almost a
quarter of the 2.4 million total Yemen-wide,” he added. </p><p>
For months, UNHCR has been advocating for regular and sustained
humanitarian access to Taizz city and governorate. Now, with key roads
into Taizz reopened since 11 March after nine months of blocked access,
UNHCR is taking advantage of the opportunity to get help to people who
desperately need it. This includes aid, vital protection and shelter
help. </p><p>
While continued intense fighting is being reported in parts of Yemen, a
lull in the conflict in other areas is opening space for UNHCR and other
humanitarian organizations, including local humanitarian actors, to
reach more people. To the north of Taizz, in Ibb governorate, which
hosts over 100,000 displaced people, UNHCR is currently mapping how to
address the needs. </p><p>
Further north, reduced violence along the Yemen-Saudi border over the
last two weeks has allowed the agency to distribute emergency aid in
Sa’ada. In coordination with relevant authorities, UNHCR is hoping
further assessments of needs and distributions will be possible over the
next days. </p><p>
Later this week, UNHCR and a partner will distribute emergency relief
carried in a third convoy from Aden to the Ash Shamayatayn district of
Taizz, an area that hosts 159,444 displaced people, according to their
protection monitoring. Since October, UNHCR has been providing rental
subsidies, cash assistance, legal assistance, and counselling as well as
psychosocial care through a partner organization. </p><p>
“Ultimately, a halt to the hostilities remains the only way to end the
suffering and ensure access to humanitarian aid across the country”,
said Mr. van der Klaauw. “UNHCR is hopeful that a lasting, country-wide
ceasefire can be brokered among the parties as this will open up further
space to provide essential humanitarian assistance on the ground.” <br></p><p>Copyright mediaforfreedom.com<br></p>