The aid agency cannot access Abyan to meet urgent humanitarian needs due to an upsurge in fighting
p> LONDON (AlertNet) - An upsurge in fighting in southern Yemen could force more than 100,000 people to flee if aid workers cannot access Abyan governorate to meet urgent humanitarian needs, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned on Wednesday."We are extremely concerned about the people trapped inside, and about the dire situation in Jaar, Shukra and in nearby areas where fighting is going on," said Eric Marclay, head of the ICRC delegation in Yemen.
"If we were immediately allowed to bring relief supplies into Abyan, we could prevent population movements towards Aden," he added, noting that thousands have people have already left for safer places.
The Yemeni army is trying to recapture towns in the southern province of Abyan that were seized by al Qaeda-linked militants last year during a popular uprising against President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who formally relinquished power in February.
On Monday, hundreds of Yemeni troops backed by tanks advanced in a bid to retake the coastal town of Shukra from al Qaeda-linked fighters, residents told Reuters. A day earlier the army moved into the centre of Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan province, where it fought militants, also clashing with Islamist fighters near the town of Jaar, some 30 km (20 miles) to the north.
The ICRC said fierce fighting, including air strikes, has led to a "severe deterioration" of the humanitarian situation in Abyan and hampered its ability to deliver assistance.
On Tuesday, all roads leading to the governorate were blocked, and movement in and out was restricted, it said.
According to reports from ICRC staff who visited the area a few days ago, food reserves are running short, prices are soaring and health services are inadequate.
A power outage, which has lasted for more than a week, has also disrupted the water supply, which relies on electric pumps, the ICRC added. Fuel is available only sporadically on the black market at inflated prices.
An ICRC spokeswoman in Yemen told AlertNet that the agency has assisted more than 100,000 residents and displaced people in Abyan in the past three months, from a base in Aden, but it can no longer reach them.
The team is on standby ready to deliver food, medicines, generators and other relief items as soon it can get into the area again safely, she added.
U.N. agencies estimate that some 560,000 Yemenis have been uprooted by conflict in the north - where Houthi Shi'ite rebels have exploited political upheaval to carve out their own state in rugged Saada province - and in the south.
Yemen is also home to nearly 218,000 refugees, mainly from the Horn of Africa.
Around 40 percent of Yemenis live on less than $2 a day, and almost half of them lack enough to eat.
"We are calling on all parties involved in the fighting (in the south) to grant the ICRC immediate access and security guarantees, so that it can deliver much-needed assistance and prevent an acute humanitarian crisis," Marclay said.
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