Yemenis March on Key Port, Demand Humanitarian Zone
Local Editor
A group of Yemeni protesters set out from Sanaa Wednesday on a 225-kilometer march to call for unrestricted aid deliveries to the war-torn country.
The "protest for bread" marchers will head for the Red Sea port city of Hodeida, the main entry point for aid deliveries to key Yemeni areas.
A Saudi-led coalition battling the Ansarullah revolutionaries launched an offensive early this year to re-seize control of Yemen's entire Red Sea coast, including Hodeida.
Around thirty protesters are marching to demand that the port be declared a humanitarian zone.
"We are organizing this march so as not to be deprived of our means of survival, and to prevent the capture of Hodeida port" by pro-government forces, protester Mahioub Hussam told AFP.
The war in Yemen escalated in March 2015 when the Saudi-led coalition intervened in support of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.
The United Nations says that more than 7,700 people have since been killed.
The country now faces severe food shortages and the United Nations has warned of impending famine.
"This march is not political but humanitarian," said Ezzedine Essoufi, head of the organizing committee.
Dozens of people gathered outside the United Nations headquarters in Sanaa to see the protesters off on a march expected to take five to six days.
Organizers hung banners demanding quicker aid deliveries and the reopening of Sanaa airport, which the coalition shut down in August when it resumed air strikes following the collapse of peace talks.
The protesters also demanded an international inquiry on war crimes.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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