Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabiah, Advisor at the Royal Court and General Supervisor of King Salman Center for Humanitarian Relief and Aid, said that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has paid great attention to the humanitarian situation in Yemen through the Center, pointing out that the Center's programs reach all governorates of Yemen, even in the areas controlled by the Houthis such as Saada, Hajja, Amran and Sana'a. The Kingdom, as he said, also took care of the humanitarian situation in Syria, Iraq, Somalia and all the affected countries as the Kingdom through the Center provided aids to the 37 countries with amounts exceeded $719 million. This came during a press conference held here yesterday at the headquarters of the Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the European Union in Geneva with presence of the Saudi ambassador to the European Headquarters and Permanent Representative of the Kingdom to the United Nations and other international organizations Dr. Abdulaziz bin Mohammed Al-Wasel. Dr. Al-Rabiah reviewed the vision of the Center and its commitment to international humanitarian law and full neutrality in which it operates as well as working mechanisms with the United Nations organizations and other international organizations. He said that the number of projects in Yemen reached 124 in various fields including relief, humanitarian and shelter assistance, environmental sanitation programs, agricultural and water support programs in a professional manner. Dr. Al-Rabiah said the center reached all parts of Yemen through 81 partner international and local, focusing on projects of children and women and to support the Yemeni refugees in Djibouti and Somalia. In his reply to reporters, Dr. Al-Rabiah stressed that the Kingdom hosts a total of 895,175 refugees who are treated as visitors, including 603,833 Yemenis and 291,342 Syrians representing 4.5% of the Kingdom's population, stressing that it is difficult to deliver humanitarian aid through the port of Hodeidah which is controlled by the Houthi armed militias seeking to prevent and seize humanitarian aid and impose financial fees in order to receive financial gain for military purposes. Al-Rabiah asserted that the humanitarian organizations should take advantage of other safer crossing ports to ensure arrival of aid such as Aden, Mukalla, Mukhaba and to coordinate with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through the Center to take advantage of the land crossings. With regard to medical assistance and delay, Dr. Rabiah said that the coalition forces and the Yemeni legitimate government play a big role in facilitating arrival of those assistance to its beneficiaries as soon as possible as well as to secure the roads and protect the workers of the humanitarian organizations, but the armed militias are targeting such aid and looting them. For example, in recent days, the Houthi militias confiscated dialysis equipment heading for hospitals in Taiz. Immediately, the center initiated, upon directives of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, to provide the equipment which were confiscated in order to protect the life of the Yemeni citizen. Regarding difficulties facing the center in providing assistance in Yemen, Dr. Al-Rabiah said that the center did not stand idle in facing difficulties in delivering relief and humanitarian aid. He stressed that the center initiated to cooperate with the coalition forces and the Saudi Ministry of Defense to break the siege in Taiz through air drop of food and medicine. Asked about the humanitarian situation in Yemen, he said that the most humanitarian deterioration is in areas controlled by the Houthis because of their intransigence. Regarding the situation in Hodeidah port, Dr. Al-Rabiah stressed that the center is implementing many programs in Hodeidah through the United Nations Organizations and civil society organizations, explaining that what the coalition forces are doing in response to the desire of the Yemeni people, outputs of the national dialogue, the UN resolutions and the GCC initiative.
