UN appeals for $3b as worsening crisis threatens millions in Yemen

SANAA, Yemen - The United Nations on Sunday made what it said was a record appeal for aid to Yemen, calling for nearly $3 billion in humanitarian relief for the war-torn country.

The $2.96 billion will be used to respond to an ever-broadening crisis in Yemen, where war, looming famine and cholera have killed thousands and put millions of lives at risk.

The appeal, made on behalf of UN agencies and humanitarian partners, came as 11.3 million people "urgently require assistance to survive", UN aid agency UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement.

"A generation of children is growing up in suffering and deprivation," OCHA said.

"Nearly 2 million children are out of school, 1.8 million children under the age of five are acutely malnourished, including 400,000 who suffer from severe acute malnutrition and are 10 times more likely to die if they do not receive medical treatment."

Jamie McGoldrick, humanitarian coordinator in Yemen, said: "Humanitarian assistance is not the solution to the plight of the people of Yemen, but it is the only lifeline for millions of them.

"Today, humanitarian partners appeal to the international community to support this critical lifeline," McGoldrick said.

More than 9,200 people have been killed in Yemen since 2015, when a Saudi-led military coalition intervened to back the country's government against rebels.

Another nearly 2,200 Yemenis have died of cholera amid deteriorating hygiene and sanitation conditions, the World Health Organization said.

Over the past year, the UN's efforts to address what it has described as the world's worst humanitarian crisis have been hampered by a crippling blockade of rebel-held ports by the Saudi-led coalition.

On Monday, the coalition announced $1.5 billion in new humanitarian aid for Yemen.

More than three-quarters of Yemen's population - 22.2 million people - are now dependent on some form of assistance in Yemen, the UN said.

Some 8.4 million Yemenis are also at risk of famine, according to OCHA.

In 2017, international donors provided $1.65 billion of the $2.34 billion requested by the UN and humanitarian partners.

Afp - Xinhua

(China Daily 01/23/2018 page11)