UN: Yemen blockade may lead to famine

UNITEDNATIONS: Yemen is facing a mass famine that will affect millions of lives unless the Saudi-led coalition ends its blockade and allows aid deliveries into the country, the UN aid chief warned.

Mark Lowcock, the UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, warned “it will be the largest famine the world has seen for many decades, with millions of victims.” He spoke to reporters after briefing the UN Security Council during a closed-door session on the crisis in Yemen, where the coalition has been waging a military campaign against Houthi rebels since March 2015.

The council demanded that the coalition keep Yemen’s air and sea ports open to aid deliveries.

Council members expressed concern about the “dire humanitarian situation in Yemen” and stressed “the importance of keeping all of Yemen’s ports and airports

17 MILLION YEMENIS ARE IN DESPERATE NEED OF FOOD, 7 MILLION OF WHOM ARE AT RISK OF FAMINE AND CHOLERA HAS CAUSED MORE THAN 2,000 DEATHS.

functioning,” Italian envoy Sebastiano Cardi, who holds the council presidency, said.

The coalition shut down Yemen’s borders in response to a missile attack by Yemen’s Huthi rebels that was intercepted near the Riyadh airport.

But the UN , which has listed Yemen as the world’s number one humanitarian crisis, responded to the decision with dismay, warning that the situation was already “catastrophic”.