Emirates Red Crescent provides aid to Yemen's remote areas

The UAE is the second-largest donor of humanitarian assistance to Yemen

A Yemeni man and child ride on a motorcycle loaded with sacks of wheat and cooking oil containers. AFP

The Emirates Red Crescent on Thursday sent an aid convoy to villages in Yemen's Al Mallah district in the Lahej governorate.

Director General of the district, Anis Mohammed Nasser, welcomed the ERC team and thanked them for being the first NGO to reach the remote area.

The ERC has also continued its food distribution in Hadramaut governorate in a bid to restore secure living conditions to the area.

More than 200 food baskets were distributed to 1,250 people in Harheer, Shahar District, and Ba'alal, Tarim District.

Mohammed Obaid Al Shamsi, ERC Representative, said the UAE is working to improve infrastructure and provide ongoing humanitarian assistance, UAE state-agency WAM reported.

The UAE is the largest donor of humanitarian assistance to Yemen after Saudi Arabia, according to an international report.

The UN's Financial Tracking Service (FTS), said the UAE ranked second place after Saudi Arabia as the biggest backer of Yemen's Humanitarian Response Plan in 2018. Some 25 per cent of funding for the $2.9bn plan came from UAE contributions, behind Saudi Arabia that has contributed 28 per cent of the donations. In third place is the United States who have provided just over 10 per cent of the funding this year.

_________

Read more:
Yemen foreign minister expresses support for UN process 

Arab Coalition to open humanitarian corridors between Hodeidah and Sanaa

UN aid chief: Fight against famine is being lost in Yemen

Yemen's Houthi rebels cut off food supplies for Hodeidah residents

_________

Meanwhile in New York on Wednesday Yemeni President Abdrabu Mansur Hadi called on the international community to pressure Iran to stop meddling in the war-torn country.

In a speech before the UN General Assembly Mr Hadi accused Iran of providing Houthi fighters with military support and smuggling illicit substances into Yemen.

“With this in mind, I call on the international community to shoulder its responsibility to bring pressure on Iran so that it stops intervening in Yemen and supporting Houthi militias,” he said.

Mr Hadi said his country continues to support the peace efforts by Martin Griffith, the UN special envoy to Yemen.

However, he cast doubt on the willingness of Houthis to come to a political solution, which the internationally-recognised government supports. He said that their track record has proven otherwise, most recently when failing to attend peace talks in Geneva earlier this month