UN concerned about ‘children on brink of death’

James Reinl, United Nations Correspondent

• Last Updated: October 20. 2009 11:58PM UAE / October 20. 2009 7:58PM GMT

NEW YORK // The UN envoy Mahmoud Kabil expressed his anguish at children languishing “on the brink of death” in northern Yemen’s camps for displaced people, amid continued violence between government and rebel forces.

Mr Kabil, 54, an Egyptian actor, who most recently starred in Youm El Karama, or Dignity Day, visited al Mazrak camp in Hajjah, about 20km from the centre of hostilities in Sa’ada, during a three-day visit to the Arabian peninsula’s poorest country.

“I saw children on the brink of death due to acute malnutrition and dehydration. I have never seen such a sight since I became Unicef regional goodwill ambassador in 2003. Not when I was in Darfur five years back, or anywhere in this region.”

Unicef, the UN’s agency for children, says youngsters are bearing the brunt of escalating violence between government forces and their rebel enemies, the Houthi tribesmen, in the country’s mountainous north.

The agency described 10 per cent of displaced children as “severely malnourished” and needing urgent treatment. They number among the 50,000 uprooted in this latest bout of a crisis that has led to 150,000 displaced Yemenis since hostilities began in 2004.

Mr Kabil joined a chorus of voices asking for both rebels and government forces to co-ordinate with aid agencies and allow safe passage for humanitarian workers to deliver urgently needed supplies to civilians trapped in the battle zones.

“I call on parties involved in the conflict to search their soul and conscience,” Mr Kabil said. “The death and suffering of these children is killing your future and that of your country.”

Mr Kabil, who formerly served in Egypt’s army, has been a regional Unicef ambassador for six years, raising cash and visiting impoverished children in Egypt, Jordan, Sudan, Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

jreinl@thenational.ae