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 Manuel Bessler, head of the Swiss Humanitarian Aid Corps, at the opening, Wednesday, March 16, of the donors’ conference.
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 [Yéménites] will not be satisfied”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 government recognized by the international community against the Houthi rebels. The latter, supported by Iran, have succeeded in seizing entire swaths of the territory, including the capital, Sanaa, taken in 2014. The loyalist forces are for their part supported by the rivals of Tehran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, within 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.