Local Editor
The World Food Program has reached an agreement in principle with Yemen's Houthi revolutionaries to resume food aid to areas they control, the agency's chief said on Thursday.
Malnutrition is widespread in Yemen after four years of civil war, but the UN suspended deliveries of food aid to Houthi-held areas of the country last month following accusations of "diversion of food."
The new agreement with the Houthis will allow food to be quickly delivered to the capital Sana’a, though the two sides haven't formally inked the deal yet, WFP chief David Beasley told the UN Security Council.
"I can say that we have made substantial progress," he said during a meeting to discuss Yemen, in which he joined UN humanitarian officials in underlining the dire humanitarian situation in the country.
"Around 30 million people live in Yemen, and more than two-thirds of them are food insecure. That's 20 million women, men, boys and girls," he said.
While warning of a "dire and worsening humanitarian situation," UN envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths said a fragile ceasefire in the key port of Hodeida "may finally allow us to focus on the political process before the end of this summer."
Mark Lowcock, the UN's humanitarian chief, said that international commitments of aid to Yemen weren't being honored.
He singled out Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, members of the coalition that launched a military campaign on Yemen to forcefully reinstate the resigned regime of former Yemeni President Abd Rabbu Mnasour Hadi.
"Those who made the largest pledges - Yemen's neighbors in the coalition - have so far paid only a modest proportion of what they promised," he said.
Fighting between the Houthis and Hadi loyalists aided by the Saudi-led coalition has killed tens of thousands of people, many of whom are civilians, aid agencies say.
The conflict has also forced some 3.3 million people from their homes.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
