Local Editor
Nearly half of Yemen’s 22 provinces on the verge of famine as result of the war there and more than 13 million people need food aid, the U.N. World Food Program (WFP) says.
Aid groups have blamed curbs imposed by the Saudi-led coalition on access to Houthi-controlled ports for the crisis.
"From a food security perspective, 10 of Yemen’s 22 provinces are classified as emergency, which is one step before famine," Adham Musallam, deputy director of the WFP office in the capital Sana’a, said as the agency launched a food voucher program to help the most needy.
Fighting over the past year has displaced about 2.3 million people and left more than half of Yemen’s 26 million population in need of food aid, Musallam said.
"This means that we must not wait until the situation reaches famine but must act now to provide humanitarian aid directly," Musallam said.
To counter the food crisis, the WFP has launched a program of emergency food vouchers to provide up to one million people with basic needs eventually.
In Sana’a, hundreds of people queued for hours to register for the vouchers. Under the program a family of six receives wheat grain, pulses, vegetable oil, salt and sugar provided by the WFP through a local supplier.
But one Sana’a resident expressed concern that the aid might not be sustained.
"We would like to have rations provided for the entire month, not just for a week or five days," he told Reuters TV.
Many Yemenis have sought refuge in Sana’a after air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition destroyed their homes, especially in northern Yemen.
The United Nations, which had hosted two inconclusive rounds of peace talks in Switzerland last year, is pressing ahead on the diplomatic front for another round of negotiations. A senior Yemeni official said on Tuesday it might take place in Kuwait next month.
"The Yemeni people appreciate the need for humanitarian assistance but what they really need is an end to the war which is more important," said Radman Hassan, a food voucher recipient.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
