Saudi Arabia donates $40 million for World Food Programme in Yemen

Food aid will reach needy families in 22 Yemeni governorates

King Salman Relief Centre signs an agreement with the World Food Program to prevent famine and malnutrition in Yemen. SPA

The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre announced on Tuesday it had signed a joint co-operation agreement with the World Food Programme to improve food security for vulnerable families in 22 Yemeni governorates, by donating $40 million.

The initiative aims to reach about 2.3 million people and curb the devastating effects of widespread famine and malnutrition, according to the Saudi Press Agency.

The agreement was signed by Dr Abdullah Al Rabiah, general supervisor of the King Salman Centre and WFP executive director David Beasley.

It aims to meet the priorities of Yemen's food security and nutritional needs, based on what the WFP calls an Integrated Food Security Phase Classification analysis.

This details Yemen's current and projected food insecurity situation during the period October 2020 to June 2021.

Dr Al Rabiah said the agreement signed with the WFP fell within the framework of the kingdom's continuous humanitarian and relief assistance to the neighbouring country.

The WFP project will be implemented in six months.

Concurrently, the US State Department announced that Washington was seeking to raise targets set for Yemen's humanitarian crisis by donors at a UN fundraising event on Monday.

"We are seeking to raise the ambition, not only in this country but on the part of our partners too when it comes to what they are willing to contribute and able to contribute to bring an end to the humanitarian plight of the Yemeni people," State Department spokesman Ned Price said.

Girls wait to get school bags provided by a local aid group, Mona Relief Yemen, at a public school in Sana'a, Yemen. Mona Relief Yemen has distributed school bags to encourage girls to keep attending classes as the number of out-of-school children is estimated more than two million, compared to 1.6 million before the ongoing war escalated in Yemen in 2015. EPA

Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel Al Jubeir met US envoy to Yemen Tim Lenderking in Riyadh on Tuesday, to discuss developments in Yemen.

The two reviewed the kingdom's assistance in humanitarian operations in that country, according to the Saudi Press Agency.

Mr Lenderking was also in the region less than two weeks ago when he held talks in Saudi Arabia, where he said upon his return that the US administration was working "to energise international diplomatic efforts with our Gulf partners, the United Nations and others to create the right conditions for a ceasefire and to push the parties toward a negotiated settlement to end the war in Yemen".