The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said late on Wednesday that more than 100,000 people have been displaced in Yemen since the beginning of the year due to fighting, insecurity and the spread of COVID-19.
The UN organization said in a report posted online that "it has been nearly six years since the war erupted in Yemen, but the conflict is still raging."
The IOM's report added that since the beginning of the year, more than 100,000 people have been displaced in Yemen, most of them due to the fighting and insecurity.
It warned also against the COVID-19 pandemic "that is beginning to emerge as a new cause of internal displacement across the country."
From March 30 to July 18 the IOM's Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) recorded over 10,000 people moving due to COVID-19, "mostly out of fear that they may contract the virus, the impact of the outbreak on services and the worsening economic crisis," according to the UN organization.
It noted that "due to access constraints, IOM DTM currently only collects data on displacement in part of the country -- districts in 12 governorates out of 22. Therefore, the number of displacements in 2020 is likely to be much higher than what has been recorded."
"The situation in Yemen is so dire, particularly in locations like Aden where hospitals are turning away suspected cases and news reports have tragically shown large numbers of graves being dug, that families are now leaving virus hotspots," the report quoted IOM Yemen's Chief of Mission, Christa Rottensteiner, as saying.
Yemen has been locked in a civil war since the Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels overran much of the country militarily and seized all northern provinces, including the capital Sanaa, in 2014.
Saudi Arabia has been leading an Arab military coalition that intervened in Yemen in 2015 to support the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after Houthi rebels forced him into exile.
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