Yemen desperate for funds to avert famine
Humanitarian aid needed in country where child under 5 dies of preventable causes every 10 minutes
THE UN needs massive funds to avert famine in Yemen and warring parties there must ensure humanitarian aid can be delivered, UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said yesterday as he opened a donor conference in Geneva, Switzerland.
A UN appeal for $2.1 billion (R27.2bn) this year for Yemen, where Guterres said a child under the age of 5 dies of preventable causes every 10 minutes, is only 15% covered.
Two years of conflict between Houthi rebels aligned with Iran and a Western-backed, Saudi-led coalition that carries out air strikes almost daily have killed at least 10 000 people, and hunger and disease are rife.
Nearly 19 million people, or twothirds of the population, need emergency aid, Guterres said, renewing a call for peace talks and urging all parties to “facilitate the rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian aid by air, sea and land”.
“We are witnessing the starving and the crippling of an entire generation. We must act now to save lives. All infrastructure must remain open and operational.”
Yemen’s Prime Minister Ahmed Obeid Bin Daghr said his government, which controls only part of the country, would allow access for aid supplies.
“We are ready to open new corridors for this aid,” he said.
Initial pledges announced at the conference included $150 million from Saudi Arabia, $100m from Kuwait, 50m euros (R704m) from Germany and $94m from the US.
The World Food Programme (WFP) has committed $1bn to Yemen and reached a record 5 million people last month with rations but needs to scale up deliveries to reach 9 million deemed “severely food insecure”,said regional director Muhannad Hadi.
They include around 3 million malnourished children.
“If the international community does not move right now, and if WFP does not get the right funding and support to address all needs, I think the cost of that will be real famine that will shame us in coming months and weeks,” Hadi said.
Yemen imports 90% of its food, 70% of which passes through the strategic Red Sea port of Hodeidah. Concerns are growing about a possible attack by the Yemeni government and its Arab allies, who say the Houthis use it to smuggle weapons and ammunition.
“We are concerned about (all) facilities in Yemen because at this stage we can’t afford to even lose one bridge or one road network let alone to lose a major facility like Hodeidah port,” Hadi said.
“In order to achieve security in this region, we have to address the food security needs.
It’s impossible to have security in the country while people are hungry.”
The UN called on April 5 for safeguarding of the port, where five cranes have been destroyed by air strikes, forcing ships to line up offshore because they cannot be unloaded.
UN emergency relief co-ordinator Stephen O’Brien told the conference the UN and its humanitarian partners are scaling up and are prepared to do more, “provided there are resources and access”.
The Geneva conference follows a warning from the UN’s agricultural chief that 20 million people will starve to death over the next six months in South Sudan, Somalia, north-eastern Nigeria and Yemen, if nothing is done soon.
Addressing the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) in Rome on Monday, director-general Jose Graziano da Silva cautioned that famine – which is threatening those countries as a result of drought and ongoing conflict – will leave many dead and rip apart societies.
“Famine does not just kill people. It contributes to social instability and also perpetuates a cycle of poverty and aid dependency that endures for decades,” Da Silva told the FAO Council.
As part of the week-long council, members are being briefed on the extent of the conditions in the coun- tries facing famine, and the case of South Sudan, where famine has already been declared in parts of the country.
Da Silva also cautioned about family farmers and rural communities in the Lake Chad Basin, where people feel “hopeless” as they struggle with the impacts of climate change, related droughts, and the lack of public investment and opportunities for youth.
“If we do not support these people, they will have no option other than to join local militias or movements of distress migration,” the director-general said.
The council is also tasked with approving the FAO’s Programme of Work and Budget for the years 2018 and 2019. The budget prioritises areas where the FAO can deliver the greatest impact to member countries to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, including climate change mitigation and adaptation, sustainable agriculture production, water scarcity management, and building the resilience of poor family farmers.