Yemen crisis: Donors pledge $1.1bn in aid

Donors at a conference in Geneva have pledged nearly $1.1bn to Yemen to help relieve the “world’s largest humanitarian crisis”, the UN says.

The UN had previously asked for $2.1bn this year, as aid groups warn the country is on the brink of famine. Two years of war between a Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen’s government and Houthi rebels have devastated the country.
Even before the conflict, Yemen was the poorest country in the Middle East.

The sheer scale of the deprivation is staggering: of Yemen’s 25.6m people, almost 19m are in urgent need of assistance.
Almost 7m are “severely food insecure”, meaning they need food aid immediately. Two million children are acutely malnourished.

Despite the aid pledges, the challenges for aid agencies will remain immense.

• Save the Children would like funding specifically for education, pointing out that more than 2m children are unable to go to school because of the conflict.
• The ICRC, which has been trying to support hospitals in Yemen, would like more attention to health care, which is said to be on the verge of total collapse.

The UN has repeatedly called on Yemen’s warring parties to keep Hudaydah open, amid fears the Saudi-led coalition may be preparing an all-out assault on the port to try to deal the rebels a major blow.

“People in Hudaydah are already on the edge of famine. An attack would tip them over,” says Caroline Anning of Save the Children.

Source: BBC. Read full article.
28 April, 2017