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Saudi Arabia provides $20M to meet food needs in Yemen

December 25, 2022 at 12:52 pm

Saudi Arabia has signed a $20-million agreement with the World Food Program (WFP) to meet the urgent food needs to war-ravaged Yemenis, Anadolu reports.

In a statement, the King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Action said the cooperation agreement aims “to meet the basic food needs of the most vulnerable groups in Yemen.”

Under the deal, 16,908 tons of wheat flour will be distributed to 524,847 Yemenis in seven provinces in the war-torn country, said Ahmed al-Baiz, the center’s assistant supervisor general of operations and programs.

The WFP, for is part, welcomed the Saudi contribution to the needy people in Yemen.

“Support from King Salman Center for Relief has helped keep famine at bay,” said Richard Ragan, the WFP’s Yemen representative and country director. “You see the desperation to get food on people’s faces, and this contribution comes at a critical time for the neediest families.”

Yemen has been engulfed by violence and instability since 2014, when Houthi rebels captured much of the country, including the capital Sanaa.

The conflict has created one of the world’s worst man-made humanitarian crises, with nearly 80% of the country in need of humanitarian assistance and protection and more than 13 million people in danger of starvation, according to UN estimates.

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