The King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Aid (KSRelief) has spent $8.2 billion on aid for Yemen since its opening in 2015, it was revealed on Monday.
Dr. Samer Al-Jetaily, spokesman of KSRelief, was speaking at a press conference in the non-profit’s headquarters alongside Abdullah Al-Rwaily, the organization’s director of community support services.
“We have spent around $750 million on humanitarian and relief projects (in Yemen),” Al-Jetaily said, citing security, camp management, water and sanitation, nutrition, health, logistical support, telecoms, and relief coordination as examples. He added that there had been around 150 projects initiated in Yemen, in cooperation with 86 local and international organizations.
The remainder of KSRelief’s aid for Yemen was focused on development, aid provided to Yemenis inside Saudi Arabia, bilateral government assistance and $1 billion deposited in Yemen’s central bank, he explained.
Al-Jetaily also pointed out that between 1994 and 2014, Saudi Arabia had spent more than $65 billion in foreign aid, which had benefitted millions in over 38 countries.
Referring to the recently published UN Secretary-General’s Annual Report on Children and Armed Conflict, which claimed that the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen is responsible for killing and maiming hundreds of children there, Al-Jetaily said the report is “full of inaccuracies”.
He stressed that the report originated from areas held by Houthi rebels, and that it is “fully prejudiced, impartial, and tilted towards the interests of the rebels.”
Al-Rwaily concurred, adding that the report is “completely false” and gives “a distorted version” of the state of affairs in Yemen.
He told Arab News that KSRelief has organized rehabilitation for approximately 20,000 child soldiers in Yemen.
“We have four centers to help these children turn over a new leaf and facilitate their re-entry into society as normal people,” he explained.
Al-Rwaily also urged other NGOs to consider rehabilitation programs for child soldiers in Yemen, warning that, without such aid, the situation could become similar to that in Afghanistan.
KSRelief, he added, has been active in Yemen ever since it became apparent that humanitarian assistance was needed there. He said the Kingdom has been almost single-handedly responsible for maintaining hospitals in Saad and Hajja, noting that locals refer to them as the “Saudi hospitals.”
And earlier this week, Yemen’s Deputy Prime Minister and Civil Services Minister, Abdul Aziz Jabari, announced that KSRelief had provided $2 million for the newly opened Orthopedic and Surgical Center at Al-Thawra General Hospital in Taiz.