Aid should not be obstructed by warring parties: UN official
amman — The UN urgently needs $350 million for humanitarian projects in Yemen, a senior official said on Sunday, insisting it was mere “peanuts” compared with the cost of the country’s war.
Geeet Cappelaere, Middle East and North Africa director at the UN children’s fund Unicef, made the comments in Amman, Jordan after a visit to Yemen.
“Unicef is asking for 2018 alone for its humanitarian programme close to $350 million. That is peanuts compared to the billions of dollars that are currently invested in fighting war,” Cappelaere said.
“We are asking for peanuts,” he told reporters.
Cappelaere appeared to be making a jibe at US President Donald Trump.
The United Nations says the war in Yemen has triggered the world’s largest humanitarian disaster, with 8.4 million people facing imminent famine, as the country also battles cholera and diphtheria outbreaks.
Cappelaere gave a dire report on conditions in Yemen, and called for the “brutal senseless war on children to stop now”.
He called for an end to what he said was a brutal war against Yemen’s 11 million children.
In the absence of a political settlement, the combatants and their backers must ensure free access for aid shipments, without conditions, he said.
Cappelaere said precious weeks and months have been lost in haggling over the delivery of key supplies, such as solar power equipment, water pipes and fuel, to ensure access to clean water as aid agencies try to contain cholera and watery diarrhea.
“The minimum we should be asking for is that all children, boys and girls, in every single part of Yemen are reached with the minimum assistance,” he said.
An estimated 80 per cent of all Yemenis are living in poverty, Cappelaere said.
“I was shocked last week in Sanaa by the hundreds... thousands of children who are begging in the streets,” he said.
“It is incredibly heartbreaking to see very small children stretching out their hands” for some food or money, he said. — Agencies