UN senior official briefed on situation in Saada, IDPs camps

SANA'A, May 1 (Saba)
- A UN official has get acquainted with the last developments of the ceasefire deal
between
the government and the rebellion in the north in addition to the situation of the
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the camps.
UN Assistant Secretary-General, Director of the Regional Bureau for Arab States
Amat al-Alim Alsoswa held talks on Thursday with Hajjah governor Farid Mujawar and
the head
of the supervision committee on implementation the six-term ceasefire deal Ali
al-Qaisi on the efforts carried out by the committee to insure the implementation of
the terms.
In the meeting, which was attended by the UNDP Resident Representative in Yemen
Pratibha Mehta, Alsoswa hailed the government's initiative to end the rebellion
that would
assist the UN organizations to play their roles outside the IDPs camps in the
war-affected areas and help in resettling the returnees and in the reconstruction
efforts as
well.
The UN official accentuated the necessity to enhance the efforts of the government
and UN organization to handle the war-impacts and to underpin the development in
the governorate
of Saada.
Al-Qaisi has talked about the achievements made by the supervision committee to
carry out the six terms, valuing the UN support to end the rebellion and its
assistance for
the IDPs and reconstruction efforts.
In return, the representative of the al-Houthi rebels Abu Malik asserted the
al-Houthis' response with the supervision committee, voicing readiness to assist
any internal
or external efforts to reconstruct the governorate.
Then, The UN official has paid inspection visits to the IDPs camps in Mizraq area
of Haradh district.
She was briefed on the IDPs' situation and the services and care level they have
got by the local authority in the governorate and the relief organizations as well
as the
educational and rehabilitating programs implemented for women inside the camps.
Meanwhile, the spokesman for the UNHCR Melissa Fleming has said that the IDPs'
return to their homes in Saada is ongoing slowly due to spread landmines and
continuous security
fears.
The organization has warned of lack of funds for its operations in Yemen, saying it
only received a third of the wanted sum of $ 40 million that was not enough to help
the
displaced.
Saada governorate has suffered from a sporadic six-year war between the government
troops and al-Houthi rebels since 2004. The last round of the war was erupted in
August
2009.
On February 12th, a ceasefire deal was announced by President Ali Abdullah Saleh
following the Houthi rebel leader acceptance of the government's six terms.
In spite some breaches committed by al-Houthi rebels, the deal's implementation is
groining well but slowly.
The war has claimed thousands of lives of innocent citizens, soldiers and
insurgents in Saada governorate, which is located close to the border with Saudi
Arabia.
The rebel group was founded by rebel leader Hussein al-Houthi, the eldest brother
of the current group leader Abdul-Malik. Hussein was killed by the army in
September 2004.
The government accuses the Houthi group of trying to reinstall the rule of imams,
which was toppled by a republican revolution in northern Yemen in 1962.
AF/AF