Local Editor

More than half a million children in Yemen face life-threatening malnutrition as a risk of famine grows, a senior official of the UN Children’s Fund [UNICEF] said on Friday, as a US-led Saudi military aggression continues unabated.

The figure is a three-fold jump since fighting erupted in March, as UNICEF estimates that 537,000 children, or one out of eight children under age five, are now at risk of severe acute malnutrition in Yemen.

A Saudi-led coalition backed by the United States has been carrying out a military aggression on Yemen by launching airstrikes against the country since March 26. The airstrikes have not been authorized by the United Nations [UN].

"Yemen’s alarming malnutrition levels are aggravated by the limited availability of, and lack of access to food, due to blocked or damaged delivery routes and restrictions on food and fuel imports", UNICEF said, adding that fuel and water prices have surged and availability remains erratic.

"We are facing the potential of a huge humanitarian catastrophe... The levels of malnutrition that are being reported for children are extremely critical", Afshan Khan, director of UNICEF emergency programs worldwide told Reuters, adding that more data and hard evidence was needed to declare a famine.

In addition to the 537,000 children aged under five at risk of severe acute malnutrition, marked by visible wasting of their bodies, 1.3 million are moderately malnourished, according to the latest UN figures.

Yemen is the worst country for civilian deaths and injuries from explosive weapon use in the first seven months of 2015, according to a recent UN humanitarian report produced by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs [OCHA] and the charity Action on Armed Violence [AOAV].

At least 5,400 people have been killed in the conflict in the Arab world’s poorest country where an estimated 10 percent of the 23 million population are now internally displaced. The death toll includes at least 502 children, UNICEF says.

For nearly six months, Saudi warships have enforced a strict naval blockade on Yemen. The blockade has hampered aid shipments to the country, which imports 90 percent of its food.