Local Editor
Aid agencies on Tuesday launched an international appeal for $1.8 billion for 2016 to ease the suffering from a year of fighting in Yemen, where 21 million people now need help.
The appeal comes at a time of growing competition for funds meant to alleviate the fallout from protracted conflicts in the region. The war in Syria, which has displaced millions of people, is entering its sixth year later this month.
Aid agencies are "very concerned that Yemen is a smaller crisis in a region that is sort of ravaged by the big crisis" in Syria, Jamie McGoldrick, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, told The Associated Press.
In this climate, the Yemen appeal is limited to the "most severe life-saving needs," McGoldrick said.
The aid would target 13.6 million people, or about 65 percent of those requiring some help, he said.
This includes millions who struggle daily to get enough food and have no access to clean water.
Aid groups estimate that about 2.5 million people have been displaced inside Yemen by the nearly yearlong conflict, which has killed more than 6,100 people.
Saudi Arabia began its deadly campaign against Yemen in late March 2015. The strikes were meant to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement and restore power to fugitive former president Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
About 8,300 people have been killed and over 16,000 injured since Riyadh launched the airstrikes. The Saudi aggression has also taken a heavy toll on Yemen’s facilities and infrastructure.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
