A heartbreaking human drama in Yemen. At least 85 people were killed and more than 322 injured on Thursday (April 20th) during a charity event in the rebel-held capital Sanaa. It was one of the deadliest stampedes of the past ten years.
Yemen, the poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula, has been torn since 2014 by a conflict between Houthi rebels, backed by Iran, and pro-government forces backed by a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia. The war has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and plunged the population of some 30 million into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, according to the UN.
“Eighty-five people were killed, and more than 322 were injured” in a stampede during a charity operation organized in the district of Bab el Yemen, said a security source in Sanaa. This assessment was confirmed by an official of the rebel medical authorities.
“Women and children are among those who died,” and about 50 injured people are in serious condition, said the security source, who requested anonymity because she is not authorized to speak to the media.
This crowd movement, which comes a few days before the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, took place in a school in the old town district, where hundreds of people had gathered to receive financial aid, according to testimonies collected by a journalist from Agence France-Presse.
Some of them claim to have heard gunshots which, according to them, caused the crowd to move. Sanaa authorities did not mention the causes of the accident or the number of victims, contenting themselves with mentioning “dozens of deaths following a stampede during a chaotic distribution of sums of money by some traders.
A video broadcast by the rebels’ television channel, Al Masirah TV, shows bodies piled up and people climbing on top of each other in an attempt to clear their way. Some try to push their hands away from their faces so they can breathe, the rest of their bodies completely engulfed in the dense crowd, while armed fighters in military gear try to push them in the opposite direction.
The victims were transported to nearby hospitals, and the organizers of the event arrested, the interior ministry said in a statement carried by the rebel news agency, Saba. “Three traders were arrested,” said a security official in Sanaa.
The families of the victims gathered in front of the hospital, but the security forces prevented them from entering, while rebel leaders went there, noted a journalist from Agence France-Presse. The chairman of the rebels’ Supreme Political Council, Mehdi Mashat, announced the “creation of a commission to investigate the causes of the accident”, according to Saba.
The war in Yemen has caused one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, with hundreds of thousands dead and millions displaced, in a context of epidemics, lack of drinking water and famine. More than three quarters of the population depend on international aid, which nevertheless continues to decline.
In rebel-held areas, including the capital Sanaa, many civil servants have not been paid for months. A UN-brokered six-month truce was not renewed when it expired in October, but the situation remained calm on the ground, offering respite to the population. Last week, a Saudi delegation, accompanied by Omani mediators, traveled to Sanaa for talks aimed at reviving the truce and laying the groundwork for a more durable ceasefire.
In this context, the government and the rebels have exchanged nearly 900 prisoners in recent days. Yemen has not seen such a “serious opportunity” for a process to achieve peace for eight years, UN envoy Hans Grunberg said on Monday. But “let’s not kid ourselves. There is still a lot of work to be done to build trust and compromise,” he warned.