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Thursday 10 August 2017 - 03:41

Saudi Blockade on Yemen Airport Killed 10,000: Aid Agency

Story Code : 659963
Saudi Blockade on Yemen Airport Killed 10,000: Aid Agency
Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)  citing Sanaa's Ministry of Health  many have died in Yemen from not being able to travel for specialized medical care following an air, land and sea blockade imposed by Saudi-led aggressors.
 
NRC joined 14 other aid organizations that called on warring parties in Yemen to reopen the country's main airport on Wednesday, saying the year-long closure was hindering the flow of aid and preventing thousands of patients from flying abroad for life-saving treatment.
 
"Denial of access to travel has condemned thousands of Yemenis with survivable illnesses to death," Mutasim Hamdan, the NRC's director in Yemen, said in a statement.
 
"Without access to safe, commercial travel, Yemenis are left with no way to access critical medical care.
 
"The result is devastating. Thousands of women, men and children who could have been saved lost their lives."
 
Sanaa International Airport was closed on August 9 last year "leaving many Yemenis with no safe means of transport in or outside of the country", NRC said.
 
Citing UN figures, the NRC estimated that 7,000 Yemenis went abroad from Sanaa annually for medical treatment before the conflict.
 
The NRC said close to half a million affected by cases of suspected cholera since April this year, as Yemen's already fragile health system struggles to meet basic health needs.
 
A Saudi-led coalition started a bloody aggression on Yemen in March 2015 to oust the popular Ansarullah movement and restore to power fugitive Abdul Rabbuh Mansour Hadi who resigned as president and fled to Riyadh. The Saudis have failed to achieve their stated objective and are now stuck in the Yemen quagmire while indiscriminately bombarding the impoverished stated on an almost daily basis.
 
The Saudi war on Yemen, one of the world's most impoverished countries, has killed nearly 13,000 people and left tens of thousands wounded while displacing millions.
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