By Sanaullah Ataullah
DOHA: To deliver urgent humanitarian aid in a besieged city in Yemen, Sheikh Thani bin Abdullah Foundation for Humanitarian Services (RAF) resorted to a novel way -- it used a caravan of camels and donkeys to carry the essentials there.
Though it took the animals 15 days to take the aid to beneficiaries, as the roads leading to the province were blocked by Houthi militias owing allegiance to ousted president, Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Taiz City remains besieged and inaccessible through vehicles. So RAF took 2,000 baskets of basic food items (at a cost of QR400,000) for distribution to the people there. Over 12,000 people in the province who remain affected by the blockade benefited.
RAF delivered he aid with help from local Yemeni partner Fajrul Amal Charitable Organisation. The aid was taken on the back of camels and donkeys to the areas facing the blockade.
The food baskets contained basic items such as rice, flour, sugar, dates, wheat, baby milk and canned food, among others. Each basket will be enough for a family of six to seven for a month.
Priority in distribution was accorded to the most deserving people like poor families and the families of widows and orphans, based on a list to ensure fair distribution. The United Nations has expressed concern over the deteriorating situation in Taiz located in the centre of Yemen where over 200,000 people are besieged since the escalation of fighting in September 2015.
The Peninsula