Already battered by three years of war, Yemen is in danger of tipping into famine this year if fighting continues to disrupt imports of food aid, aid agencies and the UN warned yesterday.
In the worst-case scenario, the war-torn nation “faces a risk of famine” if there is prolonged and significant disruption to imports through its two Red Sea ports, said Famine Early Warning Systems Network, a specialist US-based agency.
More people are predicted to go hungry in July this year than in the same month last year, the network said in its latest analysis, which focuses on projected food needs for July.
Photo: EPA-EFE
A Saudi-led military coalition fighting the Iran-backed Houthi movement had closed key ports, Hodeidah, which is the country’s main entry point for food and humanitarian supplies, and Saleef, in early November last year.
The US-backed coalition accuses Iran of sending weapons to its Houthi allies through Hodeidah. More than 10,000 people have been killed in the conflict.
The ports have temporarily re-opened for 30 days, and cranes arrived on Monday to help with the aid flow, but it is unclear if they will stay that way, World Food Programme (WFP) Yemen country director Stephen Anderson said.
“If the ports are restricted again we could face a catastrophic loss of life if we can’t get supplies to people,” he said by telephone from Hodeidah on Monday.
Yemenis are facing “an extremely bleak outlook,” with continued conflict, high fuel and food prices and disease concerns such as the cholera outbreak and the spread of diphtheria, Anderson added.
Disrupting humanitarian access would deepen what the UN already calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, said Rosanne Marchesich, a Rome-based emergency response team leader at the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization.
Last year, 17 million Yemenis, or about two-thirds of the population, were considered hungry, with 6.8 million needing immediate, adequate and sustained food assistance, WFP said.
The numbers have gone up with 8.4 million now on the brink of famine, it added.
With 70 percent of the rural population dependent on agriculture for food and income, sustaining production is crucial, Marchesich said by telephone.
Yet, below average rainfall, fighting and limited, expensive inputs such as fertilizers, have pushed down yields, she added.
Yemenis have exhausted strategies to cope with the crisis and some are selling off their assets for short-term survival, deepening poverty and food insecurity, she said.
The UN’s efforts to address what it has described as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis have been hampered by a crippling blockade of rebel-held ports by the Saudi-led coalition that intervened in support of the beleaguered government in March 2015.
However, UN aid officials warn that access for humanitarian deliveries remains a concern even if the blockade is lifted.
Meanwhile, the WHO yesterday said diphtheria is spreading quickly through the country.
Suspected cases of have reach 678, with 48 associated deaths, it said.
As Yemen’s health care system has been brought to the brink of collapse, more than 1 million people have been infected with cholera, of whom more than 2,000 died, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Additional reporting by AFP and Reuters
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