U.N. warns of dire food situation in Yemen’s Taiz
Women and children fill buckets with water from a public tap amid an acute shortage of water, on the outskirts of Sanaa, Yemen, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2015.
The U.N. World Food Program on Friday appealed for safe access to the Yemeni city of Taiz, saying that fighting between warring factions had blocked food supplies and left thousands of people in extreme hunger.
The last U.N. food aid to reach Taiz, Yemen’s third city, was more than five weeks ago when food was distributed to nearly 240,000 people, it said.
“We plead for safe and immediate access to the city of Taiz to prevent a humanitarian tragedy as supplies dwindle, threatening the lives of thousands – including women, children and the elderly,” WFP regional director Muhannad Hadi said in a statement.
“These people have already suffered extreme hunger, and if this situation continues the damage from hunger will be irreversible.”
On Wednesday, warplanes from the Saudi-led coalition that backs Yemen’s government bombed the Iran-allied Houthi movement across Yemen and dropped weapons to Islamist militias in Taiz, situated in the southwest.
Ten of Yemen’s 22 governorates were assessed as being in an emergency food situation in June, one step below famine on a five-point scale. The assessment has not been updated since then, partly because experts have not managed to get sufficient access to survey the situation.
About a third of the country’s population, or 7.6 million people urgently require food aid, the WFP said.
| [wpResize] |
Related articles across the web
.::. Stories You May Like to Read .::.
Yemen ports to open ‘within 24 hours’: Saudi envoy
Yemen cholera cases soar past half-million
UN envoy for Yemen hopes for ceasefire before Ramadan begins
Cholera kills 242, infects 23,500 people in Yemen in three weeks
UN envoy eyes new Yemen peace talks before Ramadan
Yemen govt calls for change in relief routes after Houthi pillaging
‘World facing largest humanitarian crisis since 1945’
Yemen peace talks end without agreement, to resume Jan. 14
Efforts to deal with migrant crises at ‘a breaking point’
U.N. awaits Houthi confirmation on peace talks
Loading ...
You must be logged in to post a comment.