UN: Half of Yemen will suffer famine next year

Half of Yemen’s population will suffer from hunger next year due to lack of international support, the United Nations warned on Wednesday.

“In Yemen, the UN response plan remains less than half-funded, it’s funded at 49%,” the spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, Stephane Dujarric, told reporters.

“The total plan calls for more than 3 billion U.S. dollars. The current level today is less than half as much as agencies received last year,” Dujarriccontinued.

“We’re now helping only about 9 million people every month, down from a peak of 13 million earlier this year,” he said. “More than 80 percent of Yemenis need humanitarian assistance and protection.”“Next year, more than half of all Yemenis will go hungry, and we expect 5 million people to be living just one step away from famine and about 50,000 people to be living in famine-like conditions,” Dujarric reiterated.

Yemen has been mired in war since the Houthis ousted the internationally recognised government in the capital, Sanaa, in late 2014, prompting the Western-backed Saudi coalition to intervene in March 2015. The conflict has left 233,000 people dead and 80 per cent of the population – about 30 million people – dependent on aid, according to the UN.

READ: Life a ‘waking nightmare’ for 12 million children in Yemen, UNICEF Chief says