YEMEN-SECURITY/ICRC Red Cross president tours damaged homes in Yemeni capital

Record ID: 144435

  • Title: YEMEN-SECURITY/ICRC Red Cross president tours damaged homes in Yemeni capital
  • Date: 9th August 2015
  • Summary: SANAA, YEMEN (AUGUST 9, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS (ICRC) PRESIDENT, PETER MAURER, WALKING OVER RUBBLE WITH GROUP OF OFFICIALS IN THE OLD CITY MAURER AND OFFICIALS STANDING AROUND DAMAGED AND DEMOLISHED HOMES IN THE OLD CITY DAMAGED HOME IN THE OLD CITY VARIOUS OF MAURER AND OFFICIALS/MEDIA TALKING IN THE OLD CITY (SOUNDBITE) (English) ICRC PRESIDEN
  • Embargoed: 24th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Yemen
  • Country: Yemen
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA1EALVO2EGZESHJYHQ4256NG3T
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Peter Maurer, visited damaged homes in the historic Old City of the Yemeni capital Sanaa and a major hospital and burn unit on Sunday (August 9).
    Maurer's two-day visit to the war-torn country is aimed at ensuring all sides to the conflict abide by the rules and principles of warfare and international humanitarian law, his office said in a statement ahead of his arrival.
    "I have come to Yemen to have myself a known view on the impact of the recent warfare and here in the old city of Sanaa this is obviously one place which amongst many others in the country which have been affected," Maurer told reporters as he inspected the damage to buildings, some of which date back hundreds of years.
    "What strikes me is to see how the destruction of the building is affecting much more than the very buildings because the architecture is so refined that the whole street is affected and therefore people have been displaced far beyond the very protected site of the old building, so it is an illustration of just one element of how people are affected by the warfare," he added while surrounded by damaged buildings.
    A designated UNESCO World Heritage Site, Sanaa's Old City has been inhabited for nearly 3,000 years and has a high density of unique ochre and white, mud-brick, tower houses, labyrinthine souqs, mosques and hammams or bathhouses.
    On June 12, Saudi-led coalition air strikes smashed into homes and buildings within the Old City, causing damage and destruction to several ancient structures and killing at least five people.
    At the time of the attack, UNESCO's Director General Irina Bokova, said in a statement on the agency's website she was distressed by the loss of lives "as well as by the damage inflicted on one of the world's oldest jewels of Islamic urban landscape."
    On Sunday, Maurer refrained from making any comments on the attack.
    "Well I am not pronouncing myself in front of such a destruction site, it needs much more careful consideration and different type of dialogue with regards to international humanitarian law but it is obvious that cultural heritages are protected by international humanitarian law," he told reporters.
    "It's the task of the ICRC and we do that with all parties at conflict that we engage with them to sensitise them for this important provision in international humanitarian law," he added.
    Maurer arrived in Yemen Saturday (August 8) to highlight the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the country resulting from the four-month war between the Yemeni government in exile and their Arab allies and the Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
    The Houthis took control over large swathes of the country last year.
    Maurer met Yemen's health minister, the deputy foreign affairs minister, the president of the Supreme Revolutionary Committee, and the head of the Presidential office, his office said.
    Maurer also visited the capital's main hospital and its only burn unit.
    He is due in the southern port city of Aden on Monday (August 10) where he is expected to meet the governor and other officials.
    According to the ICRC, more than 3,800 people have been killed since the Saudi-led coalition air strikes aimed at ousting the Houthis began on March 26.
    Another 1.3 million Yemenis have been displaced as a result of the conflict. Four ICRC volunteers have also been killed since March.
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