Attack on Yemen's port would push country nearer famine

An attack on Yemen’s Hodeidah port would push the country closer to famine as humanitarian agencies have no other way to deliver all the food and aid that is needed.

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A Saudi-led military coalition has been preparing an assault on the key Red Sea port, which is the point of entry for nearly 80 percent of Yemen’s food imports.

Earlier this month, a coalition source said the alliance was preparing facilities in Aden and Mukalla in south Yemen as alternative entry routes for urgent aid in the event that Hodeidah port was affected by military operations. The WFP agency had found no alternative route to cover all the country’s aid needs.

“Let me be clear, there is no viable option to the port of Hodeidah. Seventy five percent of WFP food assistance goes through the city. Other ports, like Aden, were not fit for purpose – they could not receive and offload more large ships, nor store and transport all the food.Deliveries by plane were “cost prohibitive” at up to ten times the price of delivery by sea,” U.N. World Food Programme director of emergencies Denise Brown.

Source: Reuters. Read full article here.
22 May, 2017