GENEVA, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Yemenis in the north of the country need help rebuilding lives after being displaced by fighting between government forces and rebels, the ICRC humanitarian body said on Wednesday. The conflict in Yemen, which has raged intermittently since 2004, has destroyed civilian infrastructure like schools, clinics and pumping stations in the large Saada province, a senior official of the Swiss-based organisation told reporters. "The fighting has had dire consequences for the population," said Beatrice Megevand-Roggo, the ICRC's head of operations for the Middle East and North Africa. The conflict pits the mainly Sunni Muslim government against rebels from the Shi'ite Zaydi sect in Saada, where some 1.5 million people live. Yemen, one of the world's poorest countries, has a population of around 19 million. Megevand-Roggo said that at the height of the fighting this summer, some 100,000 people had fled their homes in rural areas for camps in or near the regional capital, Saada town, but now only around 7,000 remained in those camps. The rest returned to their original areas but many had found their homes destroyed or damaged, and many now needed supplies of food and water to help to restart their lives. However, she said the ICRC -- which does not use its own Red Cross emblem in the region to avoid upsetting sensibilities of local people who see it as a Christian symbol -- has only limited access outside the town to check on conditions. The organisation, which has no religious affiliation and whose symbol was created on its foundation in 1863 by inverting the Swiss national flag of a white cross on a red background, has been providing aid to victims of the conflict since 2007. Megevand-Roggo said it was distributing food and other supplies including medical aid alongside the Yemeni Red Crescent but with no display of the Red Cross, although until recent years this had not been a problem in Yemen. "We are trying not to put ourselves into an antagonistic position to those we are trying to help," she said. "The most important thing is that we are able to carry out our programmes."
Raindrops cling to the fingertips of a dead Congolese government soldier lying on the road at the frontline near Kibati, north of Goma in eastern Congo, November 12, 2008. Two soldiers, ...
