The UN humanitarian leader warned Tuesday that “the specter of famine” had returned to war-torn Yemen and, for the first time, pointed to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait for granting any of this year’s $3. 4 billion for the aid that is desperately needed.
Mark Lowcock told the UN Security Council that famine in Yemen, the poorest country in the Arab world, was avoided two years ago because donors temporarily met 90% of the UN’s investment needs, allowing humanitarian agencies to accumulate aid per month of 8 to 12 million others. and save “millions of lives. “
Today, he said, the UN appeal has gained 30%, or about $1 billion, leaving nine million Yemenis facing developing cuts to aid programs, adding food, water and physical care.
Lowcock said Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait “who have a special responsibility, which they have assumed in recent years, have given nothing to this year’s UN plan. “
Referring to monetary promises that have not become real contributions, he said, “It is reprehensible to promise money, which gives others hope that aid may be on the way, and then break one’s hopes by not keeping the promise. “
“Continuing to hold cash from the humanitarian reaction will now be a death sentence for many families,” Lowcock said. “Once again, I ask all donors to keep their promises now and increase their support. “
The fighting in Yemen has killed more than 100,000 people and created the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophe, with more than 3 million internally displaced persons and two-thirds of the population depending on aid to survive. According to the United Nations, about 24 million. Yemenis, or 80% of the country’s population, need some form of assistance or protection.
UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths told the council that “intensified fighting, increased humanitarian wishes, and the COVID-19 pandemic” have been billed.
Lowcock said the stage had been exacerbated by the escalation of the confrontation in recent weeks, in central Yemen. “In August, more civilians were killed across the country than in any other month this year,” he said.
Griffiths told the Security Council that Yemen could simply “withdraw from the path of peace. “It said it had sent a draft “joint declaration” to all parties to the conflict reflecting what had been said in previous rounds of negotiations.
“The time has come for the parties to temporarily conclude the negotiations and conclude the joint statement,” he said.
Griffiths and Lowcock highlighted the scene of concern in Marib Province, where more than a million people have sought refuge since 2015.
Griffiths said that a war there would not only force those seeking safe haven to flee again, but would also have political implications, undermining “customers to convene an inclusive political procedure that produces a transition based on partnership and plurality. “
In a statement issued Tuesday by Oxfam, 31 Yemeni non-governmental organizations called on the foreign network and donors to “put more pressure on the parties to the conflict and their assistance in preventing military operations across the country without delay. “
Lowcock condemned the closure of the airport in Yemen’s capital Sanaa to humanitarian and UN flights through Houthi rebels, which the population and the north of the country, due to fuel shortages. Scarcity has serious humanitarian consequences “but this does not justify the closure of the airport,” he said.
Lowcock called for a quick solution if aid personnel remain in the north and the UN will have to carry out operations, adding the planned delivery of one hundred tons of humanitarian air shipment to Sanaa in the coming weeks.
Neither Griffiths nor Lowcock have come forward to assess progress in stagnation with the Houthis in an oil tanker loaded with a decaying oil garage off the coast of Yemen.
FSO Safer, 45, deserted near hodeidah port since 2015, has 1. 1 million barrels of crude oil on board and a rupture or explosion would have catastrophic environmental and humanitarian consequences.
The Houthis prevented the UN from sending several inspectors to assess the ship.
The women were used as spies, guards, doctors and members of a fighting force composed exclusively of women, some of whom suffered sexual abuse.
A royal decree sends Prince Fahd, his son and 4 army officers back to the anti-graft control body for investigation.
The number of others facing the highest levels of acute food confidence is expected to succeed at 3. 2 million in southern Yemen.
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