4 yıl önce

UN report forecasts sharp rise in Yemen's food insecurity

Economic shocks, conflict, floods, desert locusts and now the coronavirus are creating a perfect storm for the expected sharp rise in food insecurity in the war-ravaged country, a UN report said.

Reuters

Saudi-led air strikes in Sanaa, Yemen, such as this one on July 2, 2020, have left the country reeling from the ravages of war.

Acute food insecurity is forecast to rise sharply in war-ravaged Yemen over a combination of factors exacerbated by the coronavirus.

According to Wednesday's report, which covers only the southern parts of Yemen and complied by several UN agencies, the number of people "facing high levels of acute food insecurity" will increase from two million in February to April this year to 3.2 million between July and December.

That represents 40 percent of the population in 133 districts in southern Yemen covered by the study, up from 25 percent.

Compounding factors

Economic shocks, conflict, floods, desert locusts and now the novel coronavirus were creating a perfect storm for the expected sharp rise in food insecurity, the report said.

The World Food Programme (WFP), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the United Nations Children's Fund and other partners who prepared the report called the increase "alarming".

Laurent Bukera, WFP country director in Yemen, said that "Yemen is facing a crisis on multiple fronts".

"We must act now ... the warning signs have returned and with coronavirus pandemic added to the mix, it could get a lot worse if humanitarian action is delayed," he warned.

World's worst humanitarian crisis

The WFP has previously said that despite humanitarian assistance, over 20 million people all over Yemen are food-insecure, including nearly 10 million who are facing acute food shortages.

The population of Yemen is around 27 million.

The UN has called the situation in Yemen the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

Tens of thousands have been killed and millions displaced since Houthi rebels took over the capital Sanaa and other territory in 2014.

The war escalated in March the following year when a Saudi-led military coalition intervened against the rebels.

The food security situation in Yemen had eased in 2019 thanks to a massive scale-up of international aid, the report said, before this year's setback.

The report "is telling us that Yemen is again on the brink of a major food security crisis", said Lise Grande, the UN's humanitarian coordinator for Yemen.

Grande said the UN averted famine in Yemen last year after receiving generous aid from the international community.

"Unless we receive the funding we need now, we won't be able to do the same this time," she warned.