The Saudi ambassador in Sanaa, Mohammed Saeed Al-Jaber, revealed on Monday that his country will provide food aid worth $54 million to Yemen to support nearly 45,000 Yemeni families, the official Yemen news agency reported.
During his meeting with the Yemeni minister of planning and international cooperation, Mohammed Maitami, Al-Jaber stressed the Kingdom’s readiness to continue providing all necessary support to promote development and stability in Yemen.
The World Food Programme said in August that acute malnutrition rates in Yemen have reached dangerous levels in most parts of the country, and that nearly 15 million Yemenis, 13 per cent of them children, are in need of food aid this year.
The agency warned of the dangers of the continued internal conflicts, including the closure of roads and fuel crisis that could lead in turn to delaying the distribution of food aid in the country. No further details about the arrival date of the aid to Yemen were provided.
Al-Jaber reiterated Saudi Arabia’s promise to support Yemen and its efforts to transition to a democratic state and to facilitate comprehensive national dialogue and the outputs of the peace agreement on the ground.
Saudi Arabia supports Yemen in various fields, most notably in the area of oil derivatives, the last of which was announced by the Saudi monarch during a meeting with the Yemeni president in July.
The World Food Programme said in a press release early last month that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has sent nearly 23,000 tonnes of wheat to Hodeidah in western Yemen, and it will send food across the country to support vulnerable families who suffer from food insecurity.
The World Food Programme is the largest humanitarian organisation in the world to fight hunger and improve nutrition. In 2013, the programme helped more than 80 million people in 75 countries.