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Yemeni Gov’t Pleads for Global Help to Prevent ‘Rubymar’ Ship Disaster

An aerial image of the British ship, Rubymar, at risk of sinking due to Houthi missile bombardment (AFP)
An aerial image of the British ship, Rubymar, at risk of sinking due to Houthi missile bombardment (AFP)
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Yemeni Gov’t Pleads for Global Help to Prevent ‘Rubymar’ Ship Disaster

An aerial image of the British ship, Rubymar, at risk of sinking due to Houthi missile bombardment (AFP)
An aerial image of the British ship, Rubymar, at risk of sinking due to Houthi missile bombardment (AFP)

The Yemeni government is seeking international help to prevent a disaster after a Houthi missile struck the UK-registered Rubymar, a cargo ship carrying fertilizer and dangerous goods in the Red Sea last week.

This plea comes as Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden have increased since November. The Iran-backed group says they’re targeting vessels linked to Israel, and have recently hit US and British ships.

The US continues to launch frequent strikes against Houthi positions and intercept their attacks using drones, missiles, and boats.

EU ships stand ready to join French destroyers in the Red Sea to counter Houthi assaults, while China has sent a war fleet amid concerns for millions of Yemenis reliant on international aid.

Since Nov. 19, Houthis have stepped up attacks on ships in the Red Sea. Their leader claims 48 assaults, damaging at least 11 ships.

The Yemeni government’s plea for help comes as a US warning highlights the risk of an environmental disaster if the Rubymar, leaking fuel and taking on water, were to sink.

Yemen’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak has formed an emergency committee to tackle the crisis involving the hit ship.

The ship, flagged under Belize, was attacked by the Houthis last Sunday. It was loaded with ammonia, oils, and dangerous substances, posing a serious threat to marine life.

The Yemeni government urged countries and organizations concerned with marine environments to assist in preventing a potential environmental disaster and to act swiftly on the potential crisis.

In an official statement, the government condemned the Houthi attack, which caused significant damage and forced the crew to evacuate.

The drifting ship is reportedly heading towards Yemen’s Hanish Islands in the Red Sea, raising fears of a major environmental catastrophe.

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Survivors Describe Executions, Arson in Attack on Sudan's Zamzam Camp

A satellite image shows smoke and fire in Zamzam Camp, which hosts displaced people, amid the ongoing conflict in the country, in North Darfur, Sudan, April 11, 2025. Maxar Technologies/Handout via REUTERS
A satellite image shows smoke and fire in Zamzam Camp, which hosts displaced people, amid the ongoing conflict in the country, in North Darfur, Sudan, April 11, 2025. Maxar Technologies/Handout via REUTERS
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Survivors Describe Executions, Arson in Attack on Sudan's Zamzam Camp

A satellite image shows smoke and fire in Zamzam Camp, which hosts displaced people, amid the ongoing conflict in the country, in North Darfur, Sudan, April 11, 2025. Maxar Technologies/Handout via REUTERS
A satellite image shows smoke and fire in Zamzam Camp, which hosts displaced people, amid the ongoing conflict in the country, in North Darfur, Sudan, April 11, 2025. Maxar Technologies/Handout via REUTERS

Sitting in a crowd of mothers and children under the harsh sun, Najlaa Ahmed described the moment the Rapid Support Forces men poured into Darfur's Zamzam displacement camp, looting and burning homes as shells rained down and drones flew overhead.
She lost track of most of her family as she fled. "I don't know what's become of them, my mother, father, siblings, my grandmother, I came here with strangers," she said - one of six survivors who told Reuters of arson and executions in the raid.
The Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group - two years into its conflict with Sudan's army - seized the massive camp in North Darfur a week ago in an attack that the United Nations says left at least 300 people dead and forced 400,000 to flee.
The RSF did not respond to a request for comment, but has denied accusations of atrocities and said the camp was being used as a base by forces loyal to the army. Humanitarian groups have denounced the raid as a targeted attack on civilians already facing famine.
Najlaa Ahmed managed to get her children to safety in Tawila - a town 60 km (40 miles) from Zamzam controlled by a neutral rebel group - the third time, she said, she had been forced to flee the RSF in a matter of months.
She said she watched seven people die of hunger and thirst, and others succumb to their injuries on her latest journey.
The RSF has posted videos of its second-in-command, Abdelrahim Dagalo, promising to provide displaced people with food and shelter in the camp where famine was determined in August.
BODIES FOUND
More than 280,000 people have sought refuge in Tawila according to the General Coordination for Displaced People and Refugees advocacy group, on top of the half a million that have arrived since the war broke out in April 2023.
Speaking from al-Fashir - the capital of North Darfur 15 km north of Zamzam which the RSF is trying to take from the army - one man who asked not to be named said he had found the bodies of 24 people killed in an attack on a religious school, some of them lined up.
"They started entering people's houses, looting... they killed some people ... After this people fled, running in different directions. There were fires. They had soldiers burning buildings to create more terror."
Another man, an elder in the camp, said the RSF had killed 14 people at close range in a mosque near his home.
"People who are scared always go to the mosque to seek refuge, but they went into every mosque and shot them," he said.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports.
One video verified by Reuters showed soldiers yelling at a group of older men and young men outside a mosque, interrogating them about a supposed military base.
Other videos verified by Reuters showed RSF soldiers shooting an unarmed man as others lay on the ground. One showed armed men celebrating as they stood around a group of dead bodies.
The RSF has said such videos are fake.
FIGHT FOR DARFUR
The capture of Zamzam comes as the RSF tries to consolidate its control of the Darfur region. Victory in al-Fashir would boost the RSF’s efforts to set up a parallel government to the one controlled by the army which has been on the upswing lately, retaking control of the capital Khartoum.
The war between the Sudanese army - which has also been accused of atrocities, charges it denies - and the RSF broke out in April 2023 over plans to integrate the two forces. The RSF's roots lie in Darfur's Janjaweed militias, whose attacks in the early 2000s led to the creation of Zamzam and other displacement camps across Darfur.
Researchers from the Yale School of Public Health said in a report on Wednesday that more than 1.7 square km of the camp, including the main market, had been burned, and that fires had continued every day since Friday.
The researchers also saw checkpoints around the camp, and witnesses told Reuters that some people were being prevented from leaving.
In Tawila, Medical aid agency MSF received 154 injured people, the youngest of them seven months old, almost all with gunshot wounds, emergency field coordinator Marion Ramstein told Reuters.
Supplies of food, water and shelter were already low before the new arrivals.
"The lucky ones are the ones who find a tree to sit under," Ramstein said.
Ahmed Mohamed, who arrived in Tawila this week, said he was robbed of all his possessions by soldiers on the road, and was now sleeping on the bare ground.
"We are in need of everything a human being would need," he said.