U.N. seeks $2.1 billion to avert famine in Yemen

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: Reuters

The United Nations appealed on Wednesday for $2.1 billion to provide food and other life-saving assistance to 12 million people in Yemen who face the threat of famine after two years of war.

"The situation in Yemen is catastrophic and rapidly deteriorating," Jamie McGoldrick, U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Yemen, said in the appeal document.

"Nearly 3.3 million people - including 2.1 million children - are acutely malnourished."
...
In all, nearly 19 million Yemenis - more than two-thirds of the population - need assistance and protection, the U.N. said.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-un-idUSKBN15N14Q

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Two years since the conflict escalated in Yemen, more than 17 million Yemenis do not know if they will be able to put food on the table to feed their families, the Norwegian Refugee Council warned today at the start of a donor conference for Yemen.

“In Yemen, if bombs don’t kill you, a slow and painful death by starvation is now an increasing threat,” said NRC Secretary General Jan Egeland.
...
A de-facto blockade on imports, imposed by the Saudi-led coalition, has had a devastating impact on the Yemeni economy. Public sector health workers and teachers do not get their salaries. The private sector is collapsing in a country dependent on imports for 90 per cent of its food. The blockade, the violence and restrictions to humanitarian access on the ground, as well as the continued destruction of civilian infrastructure in violation of humanitarian law, is turning Yemen into a country where an entire population soon will be dependent on assistance.

“Over the last years we have shown that we can respond rapidly to needs on the ground, but unless the financial commitments match the response, we will not be able to reach the most vulnerable,” Egeland said. “Last year’s appeal was only 58 per cent funded, limiting our overall response substantially. We appeal today to international donors to step up the funding, but also to apply all the pressure possible on the involved parties to secure peace and a revival of Yemen’s economy.”

https://www.nrc.no/yemen-war-causing-worlds-worst-food-crisis

The problem is who will give aid, if they don't know if the Saudis will allow it into the country?

[Javaman]

1. Yemen and Bahrain, two countries caught up in the Arab Spring that never got the chance.

the saudi's bombed Bahrain back to the stone age when the poor had the nerve to stand up for themselves and Yemen has devolved into cause celebre for all things ISIS and Terrorism as an excuse for everything bad in that region.

heaven forbid we ever take the saudi's to task for their overt control over the region. Because, you know, they can't have the great unwashed sticking up for themselves, right? I mean who will scrub their toilets for slave wages?

[IronLionZion]

4. Saudis will get what's coming to them sooner than they think

Their grip on power is weak and propped up by the US. If their monarchy is overthrown, I worry about the radicals that would take over though. It would probably be worse in many ways.

[Javaman]

5. it will be different.

it will only be "worse" from our perspective.

only after the dust settles and the control freak war lords take over, THEN it will be worse for the average person in that area.

[dembotoz]

2. they don't look like us so we won't care

[Solly Mack]

3. K&R