SANA'A // Rights groups in Yemen have voiced outrage after a military air strike on a camp for displaced civilians reportedly killed more than 80 people. Many of the refugees belonged to a tribe allied with the government in its fight against al Houthi rebels in Sa'ada province, and some fear the attack may end up jeopardising crucial tribal support for the government's offensive.
An alliance of rights groups and relatives of the victims have demanded an immediate and transparent investigation into Wednesday's raid, which targeted a makeshift camp of displaced people in al Adi village in Amran province. "We have been worryingly following the sad news of the military warplane shelling a camp for displaced people, killing 85 women and children," said Together Against the War in Sa'ada, a campaign involving eight rights groups, in a statement yesterday.
"The human cost of the fight is on the rise and this cannot be stopped except by the halt of the war," the statement said. More than 80 civilians were thought to have been killed and dozens more wounded in the attack, local sources said, as the army pursues its offensive against Zaidi rebels that began at the beginning of August. New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a statement that the Yemeni government may have committed a "horrific attack" with the air raid, urging it to "promptly and impartially investigate responsibility for any attacks on civilians".
According Saleh Basalan, a relative of some of the victims, the strike was carried out by a warplane that attacked families who gathered under trees in a makeshift camp in the area of al Adi, Harf Sufyan district in Amran province. "Some of the children of my brothers and sisters were killed in this attack. They were taking shelter in al Adi school and in a nearby makeshift camp. The warplane first attacked the school. The people who survived went to hide in a canal but they were hit. This is a heinous crime and most of the killed are children and women," said Mr Basalan by phone.
"The bodies of the people killed were collectively buried Thursday morning," he added. Mr Basalan, who is among the tribal fighters supporting the army, said his militia withdrew from the battle following the attack. Mr Basalan, who leads 50 tribal fighters, said the attack may affect the spirit of the government's tribal allies, who began withdrawing from the battlefield. "Most of the fighters withdrew in protest against this attack. We are supporting the government in its operations against the rebels while they attack our people. We have conducted talks with tribal chiefs and demanded an investigation with the pilot of the warplane. What is saddening is that the government still insists the attacked were al Houthi fighters," Mr Basalan said.
The defence ministry blamed the rebels for preventing civilians from leaving their villages for safer areas, accusing the insurgents of using them as "human shields", without referring to the strike in al Adi. "Armed forces and security units managed to teach the rebels hard lessons and [deliver] severe losses with daring operations," the ministry said in a statement on its website yesterday. Saleh Abu Ojah, the deputy governor of Amran, denied there was a camp for displaced people in al Adi.
"There is no camp for the displaced people in al Adi," said Mr Abu Ojah in a statement carried by the al Motamar government website yesterday. However, a local source mocked Mr Abu Ojah's statement. "Yes, there is no camp in al Adi as these people were caught in that place [which was destroyed] and no humanitarian organisation was able to reach them," said the source, who requested not to be identified for fear of government retribution.
A rebel statement condemned the attack, accusing the government of disregarding civilian lives. "The bloodthirsty authorities have committed a new massacre," said a statement issued by the al Houthi rebels. "Dozens were killed and the bodies were blown away by the impact of the strike," the statement said. Abdulmalik al Houthi, the rebel leader, said his group was ready for an immediate ceasefire without conditions and a return to negotiations to resolve the problem of Sa'ada, which has endured five years of sporadic war.
"We welcome an independent committee to oversee the ceasefire and follow up the relief work," said Mr al Houthi in a letter sent to the United Nations secretary general that was sent to local journalists via e-mail. Mr al Houthi also said he is willing to facilitate the aid agencies and journalists to reach the war-torn areas and is committed to providing protection for them. "Our desire to stop the war comes out of the increasing woe of the civilians in Sa'ada and Amran, due to the siege imposed [by government] on them as well as the UN request for providing safe corridors for the delivery of humanitarian aid," the letter said.
Yemen's government earlier this month rejected a truce offered by al Houthi rebels The Yemeni insisted that the rebels abide by its six conditions for halting the military operations. The government's conditions for the truce include a rebel withdrawal from all districts, the removal of checkpoints and disclosure of the fate of kidnapped foreigners, which it blamed on the rebels. Nine foreigners were kidnapped in Sa'ada in June. The bodies of three were found three days later, while the rest are still missing.
The government's conditions also require the al Houthis to return captured military and civilian equipment, hand over those behind the kidnapping and refrain from intervening in the state's local affairs. The Seyaj Organisation for Protection of Children, a local non-governmental organisation, called for a trial of the attack's perpetrators and compensation for the families of the victims. "We do call the war parties in Sa'ada to respect the Yemeni constitution and laws and international accords and treaties concerning the civilians, particularly women and children during war," a Seyaj spokesperson said in a statement yesterday.
It also warned against using children as fighters and civilians as human shields. The living situation of those displaced by the conflict is deteriorating dramatically, aid agencies say. The United Nations yesterday called for US$23.5 million (Dh86m) to feed and shelter a mounting number of poverty-racked villagers displaced by the violence. The UN estimates that intensified combat, which began around Sa'ada city in July, has forced 55,000 highland villagers from their homes, adding to the 95,000 already displaced from previous bouts of fighting in the five-year-old conflict. Thousands have been killed and displaced since the insurgency began in 2004.
malqadhi@thenational.ae