Yemen on the brink of famine, UN warns

Lack of access and cash added to brutal conditions is leading to ‘perfect storm’

CAIRO // The war in Yemen has pushed the country to the brink of famine, the UN said yesterday.

“All the signs that lead us to the definition of famine are developing in front of our eyes,” said Ertharin Cousin, head of the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP).

“If we do not receive additional access to meet the needs of those affected by this conflict, if we cannot ensure the ports are open and providing food, and if we do not see increased donor support, we are facing the perfect storm in Yemen,” she said in Cairo following a three-day trip to Yemen.

Her warning came as the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross said Yemen had suffered as much destruction in five months as Syria had seen in five years.

The conflict pits Iran-backed Houthi rebels and allied renegade military units against fighters loyal to the exiled president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi who are backed by a Saudi-led coalition providing air support, arms and training.

The WFP said it had reached 3.5 million people with food supplies since the conflict erupted in March, “but fighting makes deliveries difficult and dangerous”.

It estimated the number of food insecure people in Yemen was nearly 13 million, including six million “severely food insecure and in urgent need of external assistance”. The agency made an urgent plea for donations to fund an emergency US$ 320 million (Dh1.17 billion) food operation next month. “The damage to Yemen’s next generation may become irreversible if we don’t reach children quickly with the right food,” Ms Cousin said. “We must act now.”

The UN children’s fund said yesterday that an average of eight children were killed or maimed each day in fighting.

“Disrupted health services, increased levels of child malnutrition, closed schools and higher numbers of children recruited by fighting groups are the effects of the conflict now ravaging the Arab world’s poorest country,” it said.

“Children are being killed by bombs or bullets and those that survive face the growing threat of disease and malnutrition.”

In the latest fighting, Houthi rebels attacked pro- government forces for a second consecutive day yesterday after weeks of retreating.

Five pro-government fighters were killed in the attack on the Labouza military base. The attack was repelled with support from air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition, a spokesman for the anti-rebel forces said.