Yemen descends into total collapse – UN
YEMEN i s descending into total collapse, its people facing war, famine and a deadly outbreak of cholera, as the world watches, the UN aid chief said on Tuesday.
Speaking to the UN Security Council, Stephen O’Brien said “the time is now” to end the world’s largest food emergency and put Yemen back on the path
to survival.
“Crisis is not coming, it is not looming, it is here today - on our watch and ordinary people are paying the price,” said O’Brien, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs.
“The people of Yemen are being subjected to deprivation, disease and death as the world watches.” The crisis is spiraling towards “total social, economic and institutional collapse” in the poor Arab country, O’Brien added.
His remarks reflected frustration with the Security Council’s failure to pressure the warring sides in Yemen to pull back from the brink and engage in serious negotiations on ending the two-year war. More than 8,000 people have been killed since a Saudi- led coalition launched a military campaign i n March 2015 against Iran-allied Huthi rebels who control the capital Sanaa.
The conflict has left 17 million people facing dire food shortages including nearly seven million who are one step away from famine in the country, which is heavily dependent on food imports.
CHOLERA IS SPREADING
Since late April, a cholera outbreak has killed 500 people while 55,206 Yemenis – one third of them children – are ill, according to UN figures.
Another 150,000 cases of cholera are expected in the next six months.