A street in Sanaa, Yemen, after a deadly stampede on April 19, 2023. ANSAR ALLAH HOUTHI MEDIA OFFICE VIA AP
Tragedy struck at a charity drive in Yemen. “Eighty-five people were killed and more than 322 injured” in a stampede during this operation organized in the Bab Al-Yemen district of Sanaa, the Yemeni capital in the hands of Houthi rebels, press said on Thursday (AFP), Houthi leaders. This assessment was confirmed by an official from the rebel medical authorities.
“Among the dead are women and children,” and about 50 injured are in serious condition, said the security source, who asked not to be known because she is not authorized to speak to the media.
The mass movement, which comes days before the Muslim festival of Eid-el-Fitr to mark the end of the Muslim month of fasting, took place at a school in the old town district where hundreds of people gathered to receive financial support, according to an AFP journalist. Some of them claim to have heard gunfire, which they say caused the crowd to move.
Sana’a authorities did not specify the causes of the accident or the number of victims, content to mention “dozens of deaths following a stampede during a chaotic distribution of sums of money by some traders”.
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Three dealers arrested
Video broadcast by the rebels’ Al-Masirah TV shows bodies piled high and people climbing on top of each other to clear a path. Some try to push their hands away from their faces so they can breathe while the rest of their bodies are completely engulfed in the dense crowd while armed militants in military gear try to push them in the opposite direction.
The victims were taken to nearby hospitals and the organizers of the event arrested, the Interior Ministry said in a statement to the rebel news agency Saba. “Three traders were arrested,” said a security official in Sana’a.
The victims’ families gathered outside the hospital, but security forces prevented them from entering while rebel leaders went to the scene, AFP noted. According to Saba, the head of the rebels’ Supreme Political Council, Mehdi Mashat, announced the “establishment of a commission to investigate the causes of the accident”.
humanitarian crisis
Yemen, the poorest country in the Arabian Peninsula, has been ravaged since 2014 by a conflict between the Houthis, Iran-backed rebels, and pro-government forces backed by a Saudi-led military coalition.
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The war has caused one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with hundreds of thousands dead and millions displaced in a context of epidemics, lack of drinking water and acute hunger.
More than three quarters of the population depend on international aid, but this continues to decrease. In rebel-held areas, including the capital Sanaa, many civil servants have not been paid for months.
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A “serious chance” for peace
A six-month ceasefire negotiated by the United Nations (UN) was not renewed after it expired in October, but the situation on the ground remained calm and the population was able to breathe.
Last week, a Saudi delegation, accompanied by Omani mediators, traveled to Sana’a for talks aimed at revitalizing the ceasefire and laying the foundations for a more lasting ceasefire. In this regard, the government and the rebels have carried out a large exchange of almost 900 prisoners in recent days.
Yemen has not had such a “serious chance” for a peace process in eight years, UN special envoy Hans Grundberg said on Monday. But “let’s have no illusions. There is still a lot to do to build trust and compromise,” he warned.
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