Over 13 million children and women in Yemen are in urgent need of healthcare services.

Khulasat – Key Developments:

Significant escalation in Yemeni waters following the Ansar Allah (Houthi) group attacks on ships with Israeli interests. This development is linked to ongoing negotiations on various disputed issues within Yemen and the broader region.

Additionally, intermittent armed clashes continue on the Lahij front, with violence extending even beyond Yemen's borders as four Yemeni workers were killed in a drone strike on the "Kormor" gas field in Iraqi Kurdistan.

In this digest, Khulasat provides a detailed account of the most important events and developments in Yemen, covering politics, economy, health, environment, rights and freedoms, sports, arts, and culture, as follows:

Politics:

April 2024 was marked by significant diplomatic activity concerning the Yemeni situation, spearheaded by the United States through its special envoy to Yemen, Tim Lenderking. Lenderking traveled to Saudi Arabia and Oman to meet with what the U.S. State Department referred to as "partners" to discuss the urgent need for an immediate cessation of attacks by the Ansar Allah (Houthi) group in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The discussions also focused on necessary steps to de-escalate the current situation and renew efforts to secure lasting peace for the Yemeni people.

This coincided with a statement from Abdulaziz Al-Bakeer, Minister of State in the Ansar Allah (Houthi) government, confirming that the "Sana'a government" had resumed discussions with UN and Omani mediators regarding a Saudi roadmap for resolving the conflict in Yemen.

Al-Bakeer emphasized that the head of the Ansar Allah negotiating delegation in Muscat, Mohammed Abdul Salam, met with UN envoy Hans Grundberg and Omani diplomats to "discuss agreements between Sana'a and Riyadh concerning peace in Yemen." This refers to the Saudi roadmap announced by the United Nations at the end of last year, which was accepted by both the internationally recognized government and the Ansar Allah (Houthi) group as a basis for launching a comprehensive political process under UN auspices.

Media leaks have suggested that the ongoing discussions have focused on issues such as public servant salaries, the reopening of roads, prisoner exchanges, and the resumption of oil exports. Meanwhile, Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, the Prime Minister of the internationally recognized Yemeni government, met with Sarhad Fattah, the new assistant to the UN Special Envoy to Yemen, to discuss the idea of reviving the peace process in Yemen.

Battlefronts:

The first week of April 2024 saw intermittent clashes between Ansar Allah (Houthi) fighters and Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces on the "Karish" front in Lahij Governorate. According to the Southern Forces spokesperson, Mohammed Al-Naqeeb, 11 soldiers from the STC-aligned forces were killed in these skirmishes, as reported to Agence France-Presse.

In the Red Sea and along Yemen’s coasts, the frequency of attacks by Ansar Allah (Houthi) group fighters on ships linked to Israeli interests increased. On April 6, 2024, the British Royal Navy announced that it had received reports of a commercial vessel being targeted by a missile attack, approximately 60 nautical miles southwest of the city of Hodeidah.

In the Gulf of Aden, the British maritime security company, Ambrey, reported receiving information about another missile attack on a vessel. The European Union mission in the Red Sea noted that a German frigate participating in its naval mission successfully thwarted a Houthi attack aimed at commercial ships in the Red Sea.

On April 7, 2024, the Ansar Allah (Houthi) group announced that they had carried out new missile and drone attacks against commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and Indian Ocean. The military spokesperson in Sana'a, Yahya Saree, stated that "the naval forces and the drone air force conducted five operations. In the first, the British ship HOPE ISLAND was targeted in the Red Sea with several appropriate naval missiles, and the strike was direct. The second and third operations targeted two Israeli ships heading to ports in occupied Palestine with ballistic and cruise missiles; the first was against the ship MSC GRACE F in the Indian Ocean, and the second against the ship MSC GINA in the Arabian Sea."

Saree also noted that the fourth and fifth operations were carried out by “the drone air force, targeting several American war frigates in the Red Sea with drones.”

Additionally, on April 8, 2024, the Ansar Allah (Houthi) group reported that a civilian was injured following an airstrike by the American-British coalition on his home in the coastal governorate of Hodeidah, western Yemen.

Regarding mine clearance efforts, the operations room of the "Masam" demining project reported that its field teams removed nearly 400 explosive remnants of war from areas under the control of the internationally recognized government. The cleared items included 300 unexploded ordnance (UXO), 75 anti-tank mines, 8 improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and one anti-personnel mine.

Incidents:

April 6, 2024: Seven people, including a child, lost their lives, and nine others were injured when a vehicle overturned in the "Samed" area of Al-Ja'afariah District, in the western Yemeni governorate of Raymah. April 10, 2024: Specialized rescue teams successfully saved six children from drowning off the coast of Zinjibar City in Abyan Governorate, southern Yemen.

April 12, 2024: Three people were killed and three others, including two children, were injured in a traffic accident in the Bani Al-Othari area of Arhab District, north of Sana'a. On the same day in Al-Hodeidah, one person was killed and 21 others sustained serious to moderate injuries in a collision between a "Hilux" and a "Mercedes" on the Al-Hodeidah-Sana'a highway.

April 13, 2024: Rescue teams retrieved the body of a 22-year-old woman from a drainage canal at Al-Thawra Park in northern Sana'a, three days after she drowned. The open drainage canal was filled with rainwater from the heavy downpours that hit Sana'a. The search, which involved draining the canal and removing the accumulated waste, took three days to complete.

April 14, 2024: Over 34 fires broke out in IDP camps in Marib Governorate, northeastern Yemen, between January 1, 2024, and April 13, 2024, according to figures released by the Executive Unit for the Management of IDP Camps in Marib (Ex.U.IDPs-Marib).

Business and Finance:

On April 2, 2024, the Central Bank of Yemen in Aden, under the control of the internationally recognized government, approved the relocation of the headquarters of banks from Sana'a to Aden. This directive affects the main offices of commercial banks, Islamic banks, and local and foreign microfinance banks, totaling 14 headquarters. According to Article 1 of the decision, these institutions have been given a 60-day deadline to complete the move to Aden. Article 2 warns that legal actions will be taken against any banks that fail to comply, in accordance with the provisions of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Law.

Rights and Freedoms:

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) confirmed that over one-third of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Yemen are at severe risk due to the lack of shelter and essential needs.

The UNHCR stated that "1.7 million internally displaced people in Yemen are on the brink, without shelter and basic necessities," representing 38% of the total displaced population of over 4.5 million. The number of internally displaced persons in Yemen increased by more than five thousand during the first quarter of 2024, marking its lowest level in the last three years.

The UNHCR reported that it received more than $39 million from donors to support its humanitarian response plan in Yemen for the year 2024.

According to a funding report for the current year by The UNHCR, the total funding received by March 31 amounted to $39.6 million.

Regarding foreign refugees in Yemen, a UN report indicated that the number of refugees and asylum seekers in Yemen reached over 71.8 thousand during the past year of 2023, with more than 90% of them being Somalis and Ethiopians. In the same context, over 4,500 stranded migrants returned from Yemen to their home countries in the Horn of Africa, most of them through voluntary return journeys by boat across the sea during the first two months of 2024, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) in its April 2024 analysis of anticipated emergency food assistance needs in the countries it covers, stated that "Yemen is expected to top the list of 31 countries covered by the network in terms of the number of people requiring humanitarian food assistance by October 2024, followed by Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, and Ethiopia."

The Media Freedoms Observatory (Marsadak) reported in its annual report for 2023 that the parties to the conflict in Yemen have committed a total of 2,515 violations against journalists and media institutions since the war began in 2015.

The Security Committee in Shabwa Governorate launched a military campaign to free the Salafi preacher Ali Banafa from the militants who kidnapped him in the governorate's capital two days earlier.

Four Yemeni workers were killed in a drone strike targeting the "Kormor" gas field in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, according to the official spokesperson for the regional government, Peshawa Huramani.

The Yemeni workers killed in the Kormor field in Iraq were identified as Ali Abdu Ahmed Nasser, Yousef Yasser Hamoud Fare'a, Issam Mohammed Ahmed Al-Kazmi, and Awad Abdu Ali Al-Mayas, while two others, Munir Al-Jurbani and Ammar Al-Qabiba, were injured. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. The Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen (OSESGY) organized a forum on the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda in Yemen. The forum was held in Madrid from April 23 to 26, 2024, in collaboration with the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the European Union.

Health:

April 7, 2024: The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that over 13 million children and women in Yemen are in urgent need of healthcare services in 2024.

April 8, 2024: The total cumulative number of suspected cholera cases reported in 12 governorates under the control of the internationally recognized government reached 2,890 between October 16, 2023, and April 7, 2024. The latest statistics, released on April 5, indicated that the cumulative number of suspected cholera cases stood at 2,745.

April 12, 2024: The Security Media, affiliated with the Ministry of Interior, reported that 2,977 travelers arrived through Aden International Airport and the land crossings in Hadhramaut and Al-Mahra. April 16, 2024: Edem Wosornu, Director of Operations and Advocacy at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), stated during a briefing to the UN Security Council that "since March, areas under the control of Ansar Allah (Houthis) group have seen a rapid spread of cholera. As of April 7, over 11,000 suspected cases have been reported in these areas, with 75 associated deaths."

April 21, 2024: The Yemeni internationally recognized government received a new medical shipment from the Chinese government aimed at supporting and improving the quality of healthcare services across several medical facilities nationwide. The Chinese aid includes 1,047 pieces of medical equipment, including 10 ambulances, 200 medical beds, and respiratory and X-ray machines.

Environment:

The internationally recognized Yemeni Prime Minister, Ahmed bin Mubarak, has directed the completion of the necessary procedures to declare the "Khor Ambeikha" area in the city of Mukalla a natural reserve.

Members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) discussed the climate and security challenges facing Yemen and their impact on the country's development, following a request from the Council’s President. According to the Council’s agenda, the members who signed the "Joint Statement on Climate, Peace, and Security" include France, Guyana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, Switzerland, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The local authorities in Shabwah governorate, southern Yemen, discussed ongoing preparations to mitigate the impact of the tropical cyclone expected to hit the governorate in the coming days. Security sources reported the death of a young man who drowned after being swept away by floods caused by heavy rains in Hadhramaut governorate.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has warned of an increasing risk of flash floods due to heavy rains expected to affect large parts of Yemen in the coming days.

Youth and Sports:

Yemeni kung fu athlete Tharwat Al-Sundi won the gold medal by defeating the representative of Bangladesh's national team at the World Championship held in China from April 21-25, 2024. This victory secures his qualification for the World Cup in Australia.

Culture and Arts:

Beirut's Dar Al-Saqi publishing house has released the first edition of the novel "Nozoh" by Habib Abdulrab Sarori.

Society:

Renowned Yemeni preacher Abdul Majid Al-Zindani passed away at the age of 82 after battling illness. Al-Zindani was one of the most controversial religious figures in Yemen and the broader Arab and Islamic world.

The Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) announced the launch of new projects to provide clean and safe water to nearly 46,000 people across four Yemeni governorates, with a budget exceeding one million dollars.