UN Warning Over Intensifying War in Yemen; “Aid to 8 Million People Likely to Be Cut From March”
United Nations officials announced on Tuesday that Yemen’s seven-year war has dangerously intensified in recent months, with the death toll in January reaching the highest level in the past three years. They warned that unless immediate financial resources are allocated by next month, eight million Yemenis will lose the humanitarian aid they have been receiving.
Hans Grundberg, the UN Special Envoy to Yemen, and Martin Griffiths, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, painted a picture of the poorest country in the Arab world, which continues to deteriorate.
According to them, war-affected areas in Yemen expanded several times over during the past month, and by the end of January, two-thirds of the UN’s aid programs were suspended.
Yemen has been engulfed in civil war since 2014, when Houthi insurgents took control of Sanaa, Yemen’s capital, and vast areas of the country’s north, forcing the government to flee to southern Yemen and then to Saudi Arabia.
About a year later, a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia, with support from the United States and the United Arab Emirates, joined the war against the Houthis, who receive support from Iran. Riyadh’s objective was to restore Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, Yemen’s president, to power.
Grandberg warned the UN Security Council that recent Houthi attacks on the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia demonstrate how this conflict could spiral out of control, unless urgent measures are taken by parties involved in Yemen, the region, and the international community to end the war.
According to him, the Arab coalition’s airstrike on Saada detention facility, which is under Houthi control, “resulted in the worst civilian casualties in the past three years.” The UN official also warned of increased airstrikes in Yemen, including residential areas in Sanaa and the port city of Hodeidah.
Griffiths stated that airstrikes, bombings, and light weapons fire in January resulted in over 650 deaths and injuries, the highest figure in at least three years.
He further warned that the budgets of aid organizations are rapidly depleting, forcing them to suspend their programs. The UN World Food Programme reduced food rations for eight million people in December, and these eight million will likely receive no food from March onwards.
According to a report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the organization’s program to assist Yemen in 2021 required a budget of $3.85 billion, but only $2.27 billion was secured, the lowest level of aid since 2015. The 2022 program has not yet been released.
Source: Radio Farda
