UN: Yemen is facing total collapse

The UN’s top humanitarian coordinator Stephen O’Brien has told the UN Security Council that Yemen is facing “total social, economic and institutional collapse” and that “urgent action is required”.

Almost 7 million people in Yemen are on the brink of famine as the country reels from a war pitting the Saudi-led coalition against the Houthis. Five hundred people died in a cholera outbreak with 150,000 more expected in the coming six months, reports the BBC.

More than 8,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed since March 2015. Some 18.8 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance.

Read: Fund humanitarian work or Yemenis will die

Yemenis are suffering because of the inaction of world powers, said O’Brien: “The people of Yemen are being subjected to deprivation, disease and death as the world watches. Crisis is not coming, it is not looming, it is here today – on our watch.”