WORLD / MID-EAST
UN raises less than a third of $4.27b sought for relief plan
Yemen aid funding falls short
Published: Mar 17, 2022 06:37 PM
Cars drive through a roundabout in Dar Sad, north of Yemen's southern city of Aden on December 31, 2020. Photo: AFP

Cars drive through a roundabout in Dar Sad, north of Yemen's southern city of Aden on December 31, 2020. Photo: AFP


The United Nations on Wednesday received only $1.3 billion in pledges towards a $4.27 billion aid plan for war-torn Yemen where the humanitarian drive had seen funding dry up even before global attention turned to the conflict in Ukraine.

"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," UN aid chief Martin Griffiths told a one-day pledging event co-hosted by Sweden and Switzerland.

He said a second pledging drive for Yemen, where millions face hunger, may be considered in a few months to "at a minimum reach levels of funding we saw in 2021" when donors gave $2.3 billion.

Among the 36 pledges received on Wednesday, the United States offered $585 million and the European Union and member states together offered $407.4 million. Britain pledged 88 million pounds($115 million).

Yemen has been mired in violence since the Iran-aligned Houthis ousted the government from the capital, Sanaa, prompting a coalition led by Saudi Arabia to intervene.

Aid agencies have already been forced to cut back or stop food, health and other vital assistance in Yemen where the economy and basic services have collapsed.

Access to potable water for 4 million people living in major cities may be lost in coming weeks and women may lose healthcare services, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.

"We cannot cut people adrift from humanitarian aid," he warned.

Food prices, which doubled in 2021 due to a coalition blockade on Houthi-held areas, are set to rise further since a third of the country's wheat comes from Russia and Ukraine.

Across Yemen, 2.2 million children are acutely malnourished.

In Aden's Keraa camp, Abdo Yehya has seen no aid in 2022.

"We survive with the help of our son who collects empty plastic bottles and metal cans and sells them, and ... the kindness of people," he said. "We are exhausted."

The World Food Programme warned on Monday that without substantial new funding mass starvation and famine would follow.

Donor budgets have been strained by the pandemic. There are also concerns over allegations of Houthi interference in aid flows. The Houthis previously told Human Rights Watch the allegations were "baseless."

UAE Foreign Affairs Minister of State Sheikh Shakhboot al-Nahyan accused the Houthis of diverting aid and urged them to engage in peace negotiations.

The Saudi-based Gulf Cooperation Council plans to invite Yemeni parties for consultations in Riyadh starting in March in support of UN-led peace efforts. 

Reuters