Yemen and Saudi officials stopped a UN aid shipment destined for refugees from fighting between Yemen troops and Shiite rebels on Saturday, unable to agree on border procedures. Three trucks laden with tents, mattresses, soap and other necessities were halted by a dispute over how to transfer the goods from Saudi trucks to Yemeni trucks at the border.
This delayed for at least another day the delivery of much-needed humanitarian supplies for 3,000 hard-struck Yemenis sandwiched between the Saudi border and the centre of fighting further in to Saada province. The aborted delivery, witnessed by journalists travelling with the convoy, underscored how local distrust and bureaucratic inertia can prolong the suffering of people who have lost homes and face food shortages in war-torn north-west Yemen.
Overall an estimated 55,000 or more Yemenis have been displaced since the fighting erupted on August 11 between the Shiite Muslim Zaidis, also known as the Huthis, and the government of the Sunni-dominated state. Zaidi leader Malek al-Huthi, said on Saturday he is ready to work with government opposition leaders to halt the fighting, which has left an unknown number of people dead on both sides.
"We are ready for dialogue, to respond positively to all national initiatives and to stand alongside all honourable people wanting to save the country from corruption and injustice," Huthi said in a statement. But an official of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees spent 12 hours at Alb's border outpost negotiating in vain with officials on both sides to get the goods into the hands of a Yemeni NGOs which would distribute them.
"I am still hopeful we can deliver these goods today," UNHCR protection officer Sultan Khilji said hours into the ordeal Saturday. The UNHCR had held the goods at Abha in southern Saudi Arabia for weeks awaiting a break in the fighting and security and transit guarantees before sending it across the border. The dire situation was getting progressively worse in the region of steep, rugged mountains dotted with great boulders.
Border traffic had nearly dried up. When on a normal day hundreds of vehicle passed through here, only a couple dozen were seen Saturday. Yemeni traders said goods of all types, especially food, were in short supply and that they were taking risks to ferry staples like sugar and bottled water from the Saudi side.
As many as 3,000 refugees were camped along the road to Mandaba, five kilometres (three miles) inside the border, according to Khilji, with the fighting reportedly getting closer. After several postponements, clearance for the convoy finally came for Saturday. Amid an apparent lull in the fighting, three tractor trailers headed off laden with 60,000 dollars (40,800 euros) worth of necessities, including 200 tents to be used in a new refugee camp about two kilometres inside the border.
But an agreement about whose drivers and whose trucks could cross to deliver the goods fell apart, and the trucks sat an entire day on the Saudi side until the post closed at 5:00 pm (1400 GMT). Khilji, a Pakistani veteran of the UN body, struggled hard to convince officials to just let the drivers of the Saudi trucks drop the goods at the Yemen customs depot. "We are the UNHCR. We aren't going to try to stay over there," he said.