UNHCR sees growing refugee crisis in Yemen

DUBAI (Reuters) - Fighting in Yemen has displaced hundreds of thousands of people, a U.N. refugee official said on Monday.

"We have a new population of internally displaced people coming from Abyan in the south," Ann Maymann, a representative of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said from Sanaa.

There are about 300,000 displaced Yemenis, she said, as well as refugees in the country from the Horn of Africa region who total about 200,000.

Fighting between a powerful tribal group and forces loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh has killed more than 200 in the past two weeks in Sanaa and caused thousands to flee the capital. Saleh was recuperating in a Saudi hospital Monday after being wounded in a palace attack.

"There has been an increasing deterioration of certain areas in Sanaa that have had humanitarian consequences for all inhabitants. Whether they are refugees or internally displaced residents, foreign workers, all of us have been affected," Maymann said.

Oman has tightened its border with Yemen, the Arab world's poorest state where about 40 percent of the population lives on less than $2 a day and about one-third of Yemen's 23 million people face chronic food shortages.

Week-long fighting in Zinjibar between locals and troops against Islamist and al Qaeda forces has turned the southern coastal city into a ghost town and displaced about 10,000, Maymann said.

Kidnapping is complicating relief efforts. Three French aid workers were abducted about a week ago.

Kidnappings of Western tourists or aid workers by tribes seeking ransom or concessions from the government have been frequent. Most of the hostages have been freed unharmed.

Yemen will need $224 million (137 million pounds) in 2011 for humanitarian aid that will improve food, health, water and sanitation for women and children, the U.N. told Reuters in March.

"We have scaled down the presence of staff to a minimum. We are evaluating the situation hour by hour," Maymann said.

(Reporting by Martina Fuchs; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

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