Local Editor

 

Frustrated by the UN’s failure to deliver desperately needed aid, residents of Aden in war-torn Yemen have started to vent their anger at the world body.

Saudi-led air strikes have raged on in Yemen despite a UN-declared ceasefire aimed at rushing aid to millions of Yemenis threatened with famine, which formally took effect late Friday.

"Aden is on the verge of famine," said local activist Mohammed Mossaed.

"We don’t need the truce of [UN envoy] Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed. We want an end to the siege so that aid enters the city by land and sea," he said.

A Saudi-led coalition backed by the United States has been carrying out airstrikes against Yemen since March. The airstrikes have not been authorized by the UN.

Ships carrying aid from UN relief agencies waiting off Aden have not been able to dock because of security risks.

"Frankly, there has not be a fundamental change on the ground that would allow aid disembarkment in Aden," a spokeswoman of the UN’s World Food Programme, Abeer Etefa, said.

Three aid-loaded ships continue to wait off Aden, she said on Monday.

On Friday, she said the truce was "our final hope" to reach the needy.

The UN had hoped that the six-day ceasefire would last until the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, yet just hours after it formally went into effect, the Saudi-led coalition resumed raids.

The Saudi-led coalition brushed aside the ceasefire, while the leader of the Houthi rebels said that he did not expect the truce to take hold.

The rebels for their part have accused the United Nations of not exerting enough pressure to end the Saudi air strikes.

"The UN and international community should assume their responsibility to end the aggression and the blockade imposed on the Yemeni people," said Saleh al-Sammad, a Houthi leader. 

The United Nations has declared Yemen a level-3 humanitarian emergency, the highest on its scale, with nearly half the country facing a food crisis.

More than 21.1 million people -- over 80 percent of Yemen’s population -- need aid, with 13 million facing food shortages, while access to water has become difficult for 9.4 million people.