A fundraiser organized for Yemen, mired in a deadly conflict since 2014, did not raise the expected sum. A lack that could plunge this country a little more into chaos and famine, while part of the wheat consumed was supplied by Ukraine before the war.
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With the eyes of the world on Ukraine, the UN this week raised insufficient funds from international donors to help Yemen, devastated by war since 2014 and one of the world’s worst humanitarian tragedies. . “Ukraine keeps us very busy (…) but it is essential that no other crisis is forgotten”had warned at the opening Wednesday, March 16 of the donors’ conference Manuel Bessler, head of the Swiss Humanitarian Aid Corps.
But at the end of this meeting, held virtually, the UN could not say that “disappointed” after collecting 1.18 billion euros, or a third of the expected 3.6 billion. That “means that the needs of (Yemenis) will not be met”Auke Lootsma, representative of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Yemen, told AFP. “This is the darkest situation we have seen so far for the country”of which more than three quarters of the population depend on international aid, he warns.
For several months, the UN has been alarmed by the consequences of a lack of funding for humanitarian aid, while on the ground, the conflict has regularly experienced renewed violence. The war pits the internationally recognized government against the Houthi rebels. The latter, supported by Iran, have succeeded in seizing entire swathes of the territory, including the capital Sanaa taken in 2014. The loyalist forces are for their part supported by the rivals of Tehran, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, within of a military coalition operating in Yemen since 2015.
Already on the brink of large-scale famine, Yemen, the poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula, risks seeing its food security threatened by another war, with Ukraine providing nearly a third of its wheat supply . According to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), the conflict in Ukraine could drive up food prices in the country. The WFP has already had to reduce the food rations of 8 million Yemenis this year. However, according to various UN agencies, up to 19 million people could need food assistance during the second half of 2022.