Local Editor

More than half a million children are facing life-threatening severe malnutrition in Yemen where the humanitarian crisis is worsening, the head of the UN children’s agency UNICEF said on Tuesday.

"The stunting rates in Yemen are likely to go up. It means children do not reach their full height but also that their cognitive capacities are affected, which becomes a permanent burden on the whole society", Anthony Lake said in an interview with AFP.

The United Nations [UN] has designated Yemen as one of its highest-level humanitarian crises with 80 percent of the population on the brink of famine. Aid deliveries have been severely restricted, compounding the crisis from eight months of an aggression that have left 10 million children in need of urgent relief.

Meanwhile, a UN push for peace talks to end the fighting between warring parties has run into hurdles, with no date set for negotiations to begin.

"The situation continues to worsen", said Lake. "What we need is a political settlement urgently".

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 UN.