Many citizens fleeing the fighting between Yemeni infiltrators and the Saudi army have been forced to sell their livestock at low prices because they have no place to keep them. Ali Mubarki, a Saudi citizen from the Abu Hager village near the Saudi-Yemen border, said this is what he had to do when the fighting forced him from his home. “There is no place to keep my sheep. I decided to sell them at a low price of about SR100 a head,” he said Tuesday. “I have been a sheep farmer for more than 20 years and it is my only source of living. It is a good investment during the Haj season, but unfortunately there is no place that I could find to hold them,” he added. Another citizen has placed his livestock in the care of his local chief. “After I left my home in Kaem Village, I placed my livestock with the tribal chief in Ahad Al-Masarehah. He is going to provide water and provisions for them,” said Ali Meqbel, a Saudi refugee at the Ahad Al-Masarehah camp. Meanwhile, the total number of people displaced by the conflict now stands at 3,473 families, according to Abduraboh Hakmey, chairman of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) in the Jizan region There are 600 families in Jizan, 550 in Abu Arish and 700 in Sabyea. The other refugees are living at the Ahad Al-Masarehah camp. This camp now has 1,623 families. “We have established a committee to look at what these people need. Many of them are orphans and others are poor,” Hakmey said. Sources said Monday that the Ministry of Finance has provided more than 1,500 tents and three meals to the refugees. Each family has also received SR2,000. Ahmed Raghey, the coordinator of the Ahad Al-Masarehah camp told Saudi Gazette that he expects the number of refugees to increase over the coming days.
