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Poverty leads Yemen boy to commit suicide

August 30, 2017 at 3:10 pm

Yemeni children at a camp due to the humanitarian crisis Yemen is facing [JodyField‏/Twitter]

A 12-year-old Yemeni boy has hung himself because his family couldn’t afford new clothes for Eid, the New Arab reported.

Ammar Mohamed Ali was found dead on the roof of his family home in the city of Ta’iz. Sadiq Abdullah Al-Qubati, a neighbour told the news site that Ali was heartbroken that Eid was on its way and that he didn’t have new clothes or an animal to sacrifice.

The war in Yemen had left Ammar’s father in a difficult financial condition leaving him unable to purchase new clothes for his children.

Impoverished Yemen has remained in a state of civil war since 2014, when Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including the capital Sana’a.

Read: Saudi Arabia should stop backing terrorists in Yemen says Iran

In 2015, Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched a massive air campaign aimed at reversing Houthi military gains and shoring up Yemen’s embattled government.

According to UN officials, more than 10,000 people have been killed in the war, while more than 11 per cent of the country’s population displaced.

Amid war and a dire humanitarian crisis, Yemen is also suffering the words largest outbreak of cholera with 500,000 people impacted and up to 2,000 dead.