Shrinking Yemen pledges disappoint UN chief

UNITED NATIONS — UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the outcome of a high-level pledging conference for Yemen on Monday as disappointing.

The announced pledges totaled almost $1.7 billion — less than last year’s pledges and $1 billion less than what was pledged at a donor conference in 2019, said Guterres in a statement.

“Millions of Yemeni children, women and men desperately need aid to live. Cutting aid is a death sentence,” he said. “The best that can be said about today is that it represents a down payment. I thank those who did pledge generously, and I ask others to consider again what they can do to help stave off the worst famine the world has seen in decades.”

At the pledging conference, Guterres asked for $3.85 billion for humanitarian operations in Yemen for 2021.

World Food Programme Executive Director David Beasley said on Monday that $1.9 billion is needed to prevent famine in Yemen. More money is needed for other forms of aid.

The United Nations will continue to stand in solidarity with the starving people of Yemen, Guterres said in the statement.

In the end, the only path to peace is through an immediate, nationwide cease-fire and a set of confidence-building measures, followed by an inclusive, Yemeni-led political process under UN auspices, and supported by the international community, he said. There is no other solution, he added. The exact amount of the total pledges made on Monday was $1.67 billion.

Largest donation

Saudi Arabia, which is leading a military coalition fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen, made the largest donation of $430 million, followed by Germany, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken led the US delegation to the conference, which took place amid efforts by US President Joe Biden’s administration to bring an end to the conflict.

He said the US would donate $191 million for Yemen this year, a decrease of about $35 million from the amount it announced in the 2020 pledging conference.

He called for a cease-fire and for warring parties to halt their interference in aid operations.

Other big donors include Britain with $123 million and the European Commission with $116 million.

NUSAIBAH ALMUAALEMI / REUTERS Ahmad Farea and his family sit for a meal at their house in Sanaa, Yemen, on Thursday.