Virtual donors conference for Yemen aid next week

Saudi Arabia confirmed it will host a virtual donors conference next week for Yemen together with the United Nations which said the conflict-riven nation risked being overwhelmed by the coronavirus. Millions need aid in Yemen, whose government was ousted from the capital Sanaa by the Houthi group in 2014 before a military coalition then intervened in 2015 to try to restore President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. State-run Saudi Press Agency yesterday cited a directive from King Salman confirming Tuesday’s donor conference in Riyadh where the United Nations aspires to raise $2.4bn for the world’s biggest aid operation. “If we don’t get the funding we need and if more isn’t done to suppress the virus, Covid-19 could engulf Yemen,” said Lise Grande, the UN Humanitarian Co-ordinator for Yemen, in a statement.