$1.83B aid pledge falls short of UN target

DUBAI • International

donors raised $1.83 billion in humanitarian aid for Yemen on Tuesday but the amount fell short of the United Nations’ target of $3.2 billion needed to save the world’s biggest aid operation from severe cutbacks.

The conflict between a Saudi-led coalition and the Iran-aligned Houthi group has left 80 per cent of Yemen’s population reliant on aid. The country now faces the spread of the novel coronavirus among an acutely malnourished people.

Saudi Arabia, leader of the coalition fighting the Houthis since 2015, hosted a virtual UN conference to help counter funding shortages for aid operations in Yemen.

In total, donors pledged $1.83 billion to help aid agencies, UN aid chief Mark Lowcock told the conference.

Saudi Arabia has already pledged $676 million, including $34 million to help fight the coronavirus outbreak, Saudi ambassador to Yemen Mohammed al-jabir told Reuters.

Saudi has faced criticism from international rights groups for its conduct in the war, particularly a campaign of air strikes that has led to many civilian deaths.

Britain — which sells weapons to coalition members — and Germany announced respectively $270 million and $190 million. They called on the parties to immediately end the conflict that has killed more than 100,000, mostly civilians.

The United States, which also backs the coalition, said last month it would extend $304 million in emergency aid for food.

Lowcock, asked about Saudi Arabia co-hosting the event, said Riyadh was a large donor and the UN would continue to call out warring parties on actions “they should not be doing.”

“Saudi Arabia keeps trying to whitewash its coalition’s role in the deepening humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen, but co-hosting the funding event won’t fool anyone,” Afrah Nasser, Yemen researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

Lise Grande, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, told Reuters the operation would face “catastrophic cutbacks” if donations fell short of $2.2 billion.

“We won’t be able to provide the food people need to survive, or the health care they need or the water or sanitation or the nutrition support which helps to keep 2 million malnourished children from dying,” she said.

WE WON’T BE ABLE TO PROVIDE THE ... NUTRITION SUPPORT ... TO KEEP 2M MALNOURISHED CHILDREN FROM DYING.