clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

UN: 2.6 million displaced Yemenis face food shortages

October 27, 2021 at 1:51 pm

Yemenis receive food aid distributed by United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Sanaa, Yemen on January 26, 2021 [Mohammed Hamoud/Anadolu Agency]

Some 2.6 million displaced people in Yemen are facing shortages in food supplies, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced yesterday.

“Our cash assistance helps families meet their food needs,” UNHCR said on Twitter.

The UN organisation pointed out that it was able to help feed more than 300,000 Yemenis through the Qatari “Al-Thani Humanitarian Fund.”

The Thani Bin Abdullah Bin Thani Al-Thani Humanitarian Fund was established in April 2019. It has disbursed more than $35 million in support of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and displaced Yemenis in the form of Zakat through UNHCR.

Impoverished Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014, when the Houthi rebels took over the capital city of Sana’a, and toppled the internationally-recognised Yemeni government. The conflict escalated after a Saudi-led coalition intervened in March 2015, in support of the Yemeni forces.

The ongoing war has displaced more than four million people, most of whom are women and children, according to UN official data.

READ: Over 20m Yemenis are at risk of malaria