UN aid drive to avert humanitarian disaster in Yemen falls far short
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GENEVA • The United Nations voiced disappointment after a pledging conference on Wednesday raised less than a third of the money it said was needed to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in war-torn Yemen.
The UN was seeking US$4.27 billion (S$5.8 billion) to help 17.3 million people - but raised only US$1.3 billion, with some major hoped-for donors going missing.
The UN considers war-torn Yemen the world's worst humanitarian disaster and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that it must not be overshadowed by the Ukraine crisis.
Nonetheless, the money raised fell far short of what was needed, leaving organisers considering a second conference later this year.
"We heard 36 donors pledge nearly US$1.3 billion for the humanitarian response," the UN's humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said in closing the conference in Geneva.
"But let us be under no illusions: We hoped for more. And it is a disappointment that we weren't able, as yet, to get pledges from some we thought we might hear from."
Out of 31.9 million people in Yemen, 23.4 million are in need of humanitarian assistance, of whom 12.9 million are in acute need, said the UN.
Yemen has been racked by a devastating war since 2014 that pits the Iran-backed Houthi rebels against the internationally recognised government, supported by a Saudi-led military coalition.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed directly and indirectly in the war, and millions have been displaced.
"Yemen may have receded from the headlines, but the human suffering has not relented," Mr Guterres said, opening the conference. "A funding crunch risks catastrophe."
Mr Guterres said the country was in ruins and the economy in despair, while millions were now facing extreme hunger and two in three Yemenis were living in extreme poverty.
"As a matter of moral responsibility, of human decency and compassion, of international solidarity, and of life and death - we must support the people of Yemen now," he said.
Russia's war in Ukraine is likely to have a negative impact on Yemen, given that the country depends almost entirely on food imports, with nearly a third of its wheat supplies coming from Ukraine.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington would contribute nearly US$585 million more to Yemen.
"We're faced with a multiplicity of challenges around the world and it's particularly difficult when the spotlight has moved elsewhere," he said.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
