Donors must stop ‘further reduction’ of life-saving Yemen aid, UN says

Funding shortfalls are cutting aid flows to Yemen even as the conflict heats up

An aid worker prepares bags of beans to be distributed in Al Jarahi in the port province of Hodeidah, Yemen. EPA

The UN on Thursday called for donors to give generously at a March 16 pledging event for Yemen to stave off a “further reduction” of aid flows, even as fighting in the war-ravaged country grows fiercer.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Sweden and Switzerland would again co-host the conference aimed at raising funds to keep food, fuel, medicine and other aid flowing to millions of needy Yemenis.

“This event will be a key opportunity for the international community to demonstrate its continued commitment to the people of Yemen,” Mr Dujarric told reporters in New York.

“We call on donors to pledge generously at the high-level event and to commit and disburse even before the conference so we can avert further reduction of vital assistance.”

A nearly seven-year war has raged between Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi rebels and pro-government forces backed by a Saudi Arabia-led coalition.

The war has led to the country's economic collapse and left 80 per cent of Yemen's 30 million people needing aid.

The UN’s aid bureau reported that the 2021 humanitarian plan for Yemen received $2.27 billion of the $3.85bn it needed, the lowest funding level since 2015. The 2022 plan has not yet been released.

The UN’s World Food Programme has since January reduced rations for eight million of the 13 million people it feeds every month and rations could be cut more next month or stopped entirely, UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said this week.

January was the worst month of fighting Yemen has seen in three years, with 650 civilians losing their lives amid escalating violence, the UN said.

Mr Dujarric said one UN worker, who had been detained in Marib province since November, was released on Monday.

Two other UN staff members detained in the rebel-held capital Sanaa in November remain in detention, he added.