Yemen's Huthi rebels, who control most of the country's
north including the capital Sanaa, have been blocking international efforts to
supply
COVID-19 vaccines, Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday.
اضافة اعلان
The New York-based group accused Huthi leaders of suppressing
information about both the dangers of COVID and the prevalence of the disease
in territory under their control.
"The deliberate decision of the Huthi authorities to
keep the real number of cases of COVID-19 under wraps and their opposition to vaccines
are putting Yemeni lives at risk," said HRW's deputy Middle East director
Michael Page.
"Pretending COVID-19 does not exist is not a mitigation
strategy and will only lead to mass suffering.
"Given the weakened healthcare system in Yemen, Huthi authorities
should at least ensure transparency so that civilians living in their areas can
understand the scale of the pandemic and facilitate an international
vaccination plan that meets the needs on the ground."
Yemen received 360,000 doses of the AstraZeneca
vaccine on
March 31, the first of 1.9 million doses to be delivered this year through the
Covax program for poorer countries.
However, the rebels' failure to cooperate with the World
Health Organization and the Yemeni government has prevented any vaccines from
reaching the north, HRW said citing a medical source with "direct
knowledge of the circumstances".
As a result, vaccinations have only been occurring in the
government-held south.
HRW quoted Huthi officials as dismissing COVID-19 as a
"conspiracy".
"America bears the primary responsibility for the COVID-19
epidemic," it quoted rebel leader Abdul Malik al-Huthi, as saying in a
televised speech last year.
Since March 2015, the rebels have been fighting a Saudi-led
coalition which intervened in support of the government as it teetered on the
brink of defeat.
The conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives and
created what the UN describes as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
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