CHILDREN AT MEZRAQ CAMP SUFFER FROM MALNUTRITION: UNICEF SAYS

SANA'A, Oct. 20 (Saba) - UNICEF has found that 10 percent of
children at Mezraq camp in Hajjah province are suffering from
malnutrition, after examining more than 1,000 children there, the
UNICEF Regional Goodwill Ambassador Mahmoud Kabil said Tuesday.

In a press conference, Kabil called on donors as well as the
international organizations to support the efforts to help the
internally displaced persons (IDPs) of Sa'ada and Harf Sofyan.

He also affirmed the importance of promoting the joint humanitarian
efforts between the government and international organizations
working in relief field to meet the growing needs of Sa'ada IDPs
from medicines, foodstuffs and tents.

The ambassador hailed Yemen's efforts as well as all governorates'
people in providing the relief aid to those people, praising the
significant role of the popular relief convoys to Sa'ada.

UNICEF efforts focuses on providing safe drinking water and health
facilities besides educational support, he added.

He also made clear that the UNICEF asked previously donors to prop
up these efforts by providing $ 6 million to finance these efforts
but only $2.9 million have reached yet.

Kabil also called on Yemeni and Arab media to transfer a clear image
on the suffering of the displaced people in the camps.

Kabil is currently visiting Yemen for inspecting the IDPs conditions
in the north and paid a visit to the displaced camp in Hajjah on
Monday.

There are more than 150,000 refugees in the northern provinces of
Saada, Amran and Hajjah due to the fight between the army and the
Houthi insurgents.

The army has been battling the rebels since 2004. Since then,
thousands of people, soldiers and insurgents have been killed in
Saada province and Harf Sufian in Amran province, after the rebel
group was founded by rebel leader Hussein al-Houthi.

Hussein, the eldest brother of the current group leader Abdul-Malik,
was killed by the army in September 2004.

The Yemeni government accuses the al-Houthi group of trying to
re-install the rule of imams, which was toppled by a republican
revolution in northern Yemen in 1962.

FJ/AF