Thu, Jun 04, 2020 page6

• Yemen faces ‘tragedy’ as aid funding falls short

  MORE MONEY CRUCIAL: As some of last year’s large donors had not yet contributed, pledging would continue, and the UN promised not to abandon the nation’s people

  • The Guardian
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  Yemen remains on the brink of “a macabre tragedy,” the UN has warned after a humanitarian fundraising summit raised only US$1.35 billion for this year, about US$1 billion short of the target and only half the sum raised at the equivalent pledging conference last year.

  Mark Lowcock, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said that unless more money was raised Yemen “will face a horrific outcome at the end of the year.”

  Despite the shortfall “the UN will not abandon the people of Yemen,” he said, adding that pledging would continue, because some of last year’s large donors had not yet contributed.

  Abdullah al-Rabiah, supervisor general of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre in Saudi Arabia, which cohosted the virtual summit, put the overall shortfall down to the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on national budgets and concerns about the restrictions on aid flows imposed by the parties to Yemen’s five-year civil war.

  “We want to be sure that the money will go to those in need,” he said.

  The largest single sum pledged, US$500 million, came from Saudi Arabia, one of the main protagonists in the war.

  Other big donors were the UK, the US, Norway and Germany.

  Those countries that had not paid “had to stand up” or Yemen faced “a macabre tragedy,” Lowcock said.

  Repeated disputes over the diversion of aid, including by interference or by conditions set by the Houthi rebels in the north of the country, have led some Arab states to hold back from making pledges.

  The UN had to work throughout the country to help the most vulnerable, regardless of which group was in charge of the territory, Lowcock said.

  Before the conference, the UN had only been able to raise US$500 million for Yemen this year. Even if all the US$1.35 billion pledged was handed over, the UN aid budget for Yemen would still be more than US$1 billion less than the US$3.2 billion eventually raised last year.

  “Yemen is now on the precipice, right on the cliff edge, below which lies a tragedy of historic proportions,” Lowcock said.

  In a sign of the UN’s problems, Saudi Arabia insisted US$200 million of its donation would be spent through Saudi Arabian aid programs, not those sanctioned by the UN.

  It also later clarified this sum had been previously announced, but not handed over.

  The United Arab Emirates, one of the external powers backing the Yemeni government against the Houthis, made no commitment to the UN program at the summit.

  During the four-hour virtual summit, addressed by more than 40 speakers, leaders called for a political settlement and the lifting of any restrictions on the distribution of humanitarian supplies.

  The conference was not designed to bring about the resumption of political talks to end the conflict, which started when Houthi rebels seized the capital, Sana’a, from the Saudi Arabian-backed and UN-recognized government.

  That government has been hit by internal divisions, with a secessionist group, the Southern Transitional Council based in Aden, claiming to rule across the southern governorates.

  Saudi Arabia has reopened talks with the council to try to reunify the anti-Houthi forces, but the widespread view is that Saudi Arabia wants to bring the war to an end, as long as it can protect its borders.

  UN Secretary-General Antonio Gutteres highlighted the arrival of the novel coronavirus in Yemen in early April.

  “We are in a race against time,” he said. “Reports indicate that, in Aden, mortality rates from COVID-19 are among the highest in the world. That is just one sign of what lies ahead, if we do not act now.”

  He said that only half of Yemen’s health facilities were operational, and there were shortages of testing devices, oxygen, ambulances and basic protective equipment.
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