Returning to Al-Durayhimi..a road fraught with mines and the Houthis' refusal to normalize life
English - Thursday 25 August 2022 الساعة 03:00 pm
Hodeidah, NewsYemen, private:
Nearly a year after the joint forces were repositioned in the south of Hodeidah, Al-Durayhimi district is still suffering from Houthi militia mines that impede the return of life.
The Houthi militia invaded Al-Durayhimi in November 2021 after the joint forces implemented the related part of the Stockholm Agreement, which provides for the repositioning of forces in the Al-Durayhimi and Al-Tuhayta districts, south of Hodeidah.
The Houthi militia reviewed its violation of the agreement by recently producing a documentary film depicting its invasion of al-Durayhimi after the withdrawal of the joint forces as a historic victory.
The alleged "victory" of the Houthi militia was the displacement of the residents of dozens of villages that it had invaded, the implementation of reprisals, and its refusal to remove mines and normalize life in the district.
Ahmed Saghir Bajali recounts his experience of returning to his city of Al-Durayhimi, saying, "To return to live in your city after leaving it unwillingly for more than four years, and after all the events and disasters that the mind could not have imagined - is an experiment and a bold step that I wanted only to be one of the initiators of it." .
Bajali, a teacher and a former detainee in the prisons of the Houthi militia, describes - in a post on Facebook - his experience of returning to his hometown: "A night in Al-Durayhimi I forgot all my pain, the children's joy in this return is indescribable," but by returning to reality, it becomes clear how bad the situation is.
And "Bajali" indicates that there are points he would like to write down to normalize the situation in the city and encourage citizens to return to it.
The teacher, "Bajali" spoke about the necessity of inaugurating the new school year and taking serious steps to start studying in the city of Al-Durayhimi, which is under the control of the Houthi militia, pointing out that "so far, there are no encouraging signs in this direction."
He also talked about the crisis of water cuts and the need to resume work on the solar energy system to provide water in the city, by maintaining previous projects or changing them with new systems.
Bajali" pointed to the continuing fall of victims as a result of the mines that were heavily planted by the Houthi militia, stressing the need to "intensify the work of demining teams, increase their workers and provide them with modern technologies."
He pointed out the importance of maintaining "the line connecting the city center and the coastline, as it is no more than 6-7 kilometers, but it causes a lot of trouble for those who want to reach the city," referring to the Houthis' mining of secondary and main roads.
"Bajali" lists the rest of the needs necessary to normalize life, including: "electricity, compensation, security, lost goods, communications, health...".
The Director of the Human Rights Office in Al-Durayhimi District, Ahmed Ateeq, had warned of a human tragedy if the residents continued to return before removing the deadly mines and booby-traps planted by the militia everywhere, calling on them to wait to return before clearing the area.
In a previous press statement, Ateeq called for international teams to be dispatched to the area to clear mines, blaming the Houthis for all responsibility for the lives of citizens.
