UN's $1.3bn Yemen total 'a disappointment' in shadow of Russia-Ukraine war

Hollywood star Angelina Jolie kicked off appeal, which fell short of $4.27 billion target

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  Yemeni children wait for their turn to fill water from public taps in Sanaa as the impoverished country faces water and fuel shortages amid a civil war. AFP

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  Al Jareeb village in northern Yemen has been hard hit by the ongoing conflict. Oxfam is assisting internally displaced people in the village by providing water and sanitation. Photo: Amal Al-Ariqi / Oxfam

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  A lack of water in Yemen in nothing new. Here, Yemeni children fill jerry cans with water from a donated source on the outskirts of the port city of Hodeidah in 2016. AFP

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  A Yemeni girl fills up her vessel with drinking water in north Hodeidah in 2019. Reuters

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  Carrying water past a cemetery dedicated to those killed in the country's ongoing conflict, in Sanaa, Yemen. EPA

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  A displaced Yemeni girl drinks water in a camp set up for people who fled the battle areas east of Hodeidah in 2018. AFP

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  Yemeni women and children collect water from a tanker in Al Maafer district in August. AFP

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  A Yemeni woman transports water on the back of a donkey amid an extreme heatwave and severe water shortage. AFP

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  Drastic water shortages continue to blight Yemen. AFP

A UN appeal for Yemen has raised $1.3 billion - less than a third of what the organisation had targeted to help the Arab world’s poorest country.

Hollywood star and UNHCR special envoy Angelina Jolie kicked off the UN effort for war-ravaged Yemen on Wednesday, where humanitarians have seen funding dry up amid Russia's war in Ukraine.

UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths called the total “a disappointment” against the $4.27bn target to help alleviate the world’s worst humanitarian disaster.

It is thought 161,000 people will experience famine in Yemen this year.

“We hoped for more,” he said at the end of the conference, before calling the outlook for Yemen “dire”.

The country “needs money, funding, urgent, rapid, in the bank to the people of Yemen," he said.

The conference came as world attention focuses on the war in Ukraine, which has overshadowed other humanitarian crises since the Russian invasion on February 24, raising concerns Yemen’s plight may be forgotten. More than three million people have fled Ukraine, Europe’s largest exodus since the Second World War.

A prolonged conflict in Ukraine will probably make it harder for Yemenis to meet their basic needs, as food prices, especially the cost of grain, are expected to increase. Yemen depends almost entirely on food imports, with 22 per cent of its wheat imports coming from Ukraine, according to the World Food Programme.

Mr Griffiths said some nations did meet expectations, with regards to donations. He was probably referring to the UAE and Saudi Arabia, the pillars of a military coalition fighting the Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen. Last year, the UAE pledged $230 million and Saudi Arabia $430m.

Angeline Jolie in Yemen - in pictures

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  Hollywood actress and UN special envoy Angelina Jolie, left, sits with displaced Yemeni women and listens to their stories of struggle in Al Kandam, Yemen. AP

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  The actress arrived in Yemen on Sunday to meet people who have been displaced by the country's seven-year conflict. AP

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  Her visit comes before the annual pledging meeting for Yemen on March 16. AFP

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  Jolie is hoping her visit will help draw attention to the conflict's catastrophic consequences, said the UN refugee agency, UNHCR. AP

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  Jolie inside a camp for people displaced by war in Lahej, Yemen. Reuters

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  The UN special envoy shakes hands with a woman displaced by war. Reuters

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  UN aid chiefs worry that donor fatigue will affect Yemen, as governments shift allocations to Ukraine, Afghanistan and other crises. Reuters

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  Jolie gestures as she leaves a camp for displaced people. Reuters

“It is a disappointment that we weren’t able as yet to get pledges from some we thought we might hear from,” he said. “We will be following up to see if we can increase this sum” to at least match last year’s.

Last year's conference raised only about $1.7bn for Yemen out of $3.85bn the UN had sought. However, the overall amount reached more than $2.3bn by the end of the year, according to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

Only one Arab nation, Kuwait - which pledged $10m - announced donations to the Yemen effort, according to a tally of pledges. The EU and its members declared more than $407m for Yemen this year, plus $118m from the UK.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US will donate nearly $585m in aid to Yemen this year.

Mr Blinken also called for an end to the grinding war. “We have to work relentlessly to bring the conflict to an end, knowing that as long as it goes on, so will the humanitarian crisis,” he said.

Yemen’s war started in 2014 when the Iran-backed rebel Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and much of the country’s north. A Saudi-led, US-backed coalition intervened months later to dislodge the rebels and restore the internationally recognised government.

The conflict has, in recent years, become a regional proxy war that has killed more than 150,000 people, including more than 14,500 civilians.