The global aid group said in a statement on Thursday that an attack this week on a hospital it supported in the area had killed 19 people and wounded 24.
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MSF says the organisation already repeatedly shared the location and Global Positioning System coordinates of the hospital with all parties involved in the conflict in Yemen, including the Saudi-led coalition, in order to prevent attacks.
The departure of MSF doctors and staffers will leave northern Yemen in an even more dire humanitarian situation.
Yemen has witnessed a conflict since 2014 between the government and Iranian-backed Houthi militants who abolished parliament early and forced the internationally recognised president out of the country. Gen. Ahmed Asiri briefs reporters at the Riyadh Air Base, Saudi Arabia, on March 30, 2015.
CAIRO (AP) – Doctors Without Borders announced on Thursday that it’s withdrawing from northern Yemen due to what the global aid group called “indiscriminate bombings and unreliable reassurances” from the Saudi-led coalition that’s fighting Shiite rebels in the country.
“Coalition officials repeatedly state that they honor global humanitarian law, yet this attack shows a failure to control the use of force and to avoid attacks on hospitals full of patients.” it continued.
“Hospitals and medical personnel are explicitly protected under global humanitarian law and any attack directed against them, or against any civilian persons or infrastructure, is a serious violation of worldwide humanitarian law”, Ban said.
“MSF is neither satisfied nor reassured by the SLC’s statement that this attack was a mistake”.
The cost from damage to infrastructure and economic losses in Yemen’s civil war is more than $14 billion so far, according to a confidential report seen by Reuters that highlights the effort needed to rebuild the country, where more than half the population is suffering from malnutrition.
In one case, the team held the coalition responsible for hitting an MSF-run hospital but accused the rebels of having used the facility as a hideout.
More than 2,000 MSF staff are now working in Yemen, including 90 worldwide staff.
“Our aim is to open programmes, not close them, especially considering the enormous needs in the north”, he said.
He said that civilians were paying a heavy price in the conflict.
“People in Yemen continue to be killed and injured while seeking medical care”.
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MSF also said that airstrikes in northern Yemen – a stronghold of the rebels known as Houthis – have intensified since peace talks collapsed earlier this month.
