INDISCRIMINATE BOMBINGS AND UNRELIABLE REASSURANCES BY FROMTHE SAUDI LED
COALITION, FORCES MSF TO EVACUATE STAFF FROM SIX HOSPITALS IN NORTHERN YEMEN
Barcelona/Sanaa- 18 August 2016.
Following the August 15 aerial bombing bombing of Abs Hospital in Yemen’s Hajjah
Governorate by Sauid-led Coalition forces, which killed 19 people and injured a further 24,
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has decided to evacuate its staff
from the hospitals it supports in Saada and Hajjah governorates in Northern Yemen. These
facilities include, concretely Haydan, Razeh, Al Gamouri, Yasnm hospitals in Saada and Abs and
Al Gamouri hospitals in Hajjah. The attack on the Abs hospital is the fourth and deadliest on an
MSF-supported hospital during this war and there have been countless more on other health
facilities and services.
Since the collapse of the peace talks between the Saudi-led coalition (SLC) and the Houthi
forces in Kuwait 11 days ago, the Saudi-led coalition has renewed an intensive aerial campaign
that has, once again, has turned vast vast areas of Yemen into de facto frontlines.
Over the lpast 10 months, MSF has met with Saudi-led high ranking Saudi officials on two
occasions in Riyadh to secure humanitarian and medical assistance for Yeminis, as well as and
to seek assurances that attacks on hospitals would endstop. Aerial Yet the bbombings have
however continued, despite the fact that. MSF has systematically sharesd the GPS coordinates
of hthe hospitals in which we work with the parties involved in the conflict. Coalition officials
repeatedly claim that they honor international humanitarian law, y. Yet this attack shows a
failure to control the use of force and to avoid attacks on hospitals full of patients without
warning. MSF cannot accept the Saudi-led Coalition’s claim that this attack was another
mistake.
Given the intensity of the current offensive and our loss of confidence in the Coalition’s ability
to avoid such fatal attacks, MSF considers that the hospitals in Saada and Hajjah governorates
are presently unsafe for patients and staff. The decision to evacuate the staff, among them
obstetricians, pediatricians, surgeons and emergency room specialists, from a project is never
taken lightly, but in the absence of credible assurances that parties to a conflict will respect the
protected status of medical facilities, medical workers, and patients, there may be no other
options. This is the case in Hajjah and in Saada governorate based on recent events.
While an independent investigation remains necessary, we must highlight that the substantive
report of previous military coalition investigations related to attacks on MSF facilities have not
been shared with us. This latest incident is proof that the current rules of engagement, military
protocols and procedures are not inadequate to in avoiding attacks on hospitals, so theyand
need rto be reviewedson and changed. MSF asks the Saudi-led Coalition and the Governments
supporting the Coalition, particularly US, UK and France, to commit to ensure an immediate
application of measures geared to substantially increasinge the protection of civilians.
The hospitals that MSF supports in Saada, Haydan, Razeh , Abs and Hajjah will continue to
operate with the staff from the Ministry of Health and volunteers. These hospitals are already
struggling to keep up with the medical needs caused by the renewed bombing campaigns and
the acute needs created or exacerbated by the numerous shortages Yemenis are trying to
endure. MSF asks all the parties to ensure the safety of these hospitals and to allow them to
continue to providinge medical care with neutrality and impartiality.
MSF deeply regrets the consequences of this evacuation for our patients and our MoH Yemeni
medical colleagues who will continue to work in the health facilities under unsafeunder dire
conditions. We hope that the s