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UN coordinator urges Yemen warring parties to provide safe passage for civilians

Xinhua, May 7, 2015 Adjust font size:

A senior UN official on Thursday urged Yemen warring parties to provide safe passage for civilians from areas of conflict and to observe their duty to protect civilians in accordance with international humanitarian law.

Johannes Van Der Klaauw, UN humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, also called on all parties to the conflict to provide rapid, safe and predictable access to all people in need in the area.

It was reported that earlier on Wednesday a group of civilians were targeted while they were trying to flee to safer areas, having been trapped in Aden with limited or no access to water, food and health care for weeks.

There were also reports coming out of Aden on Wednesday with accounts of scores of people, many of them civilians and including women and children, being killed and injured in hostilities.

"People in Aden have endured extreme hardship as a result of conflict over the last six weeks and must be able to move to safer areas to seek medical and other assistance," Klaauw said.

According to the coordinator, in the six weeks since the escalation of conflict in Yemen, more than 1,400 people have been killed and nearly 6,000 injured, many of them civilians. Endit