With famine looming in Yemen, the country is “on a knife’s edge” and in desperate need of cash from international donors to avert disaster, said the UN Resident Coordinator in the country on Tuesday.

Jamie McGoldrick said there are seven million “who don’t know where their next meal is coming from”, as Yemen enters its third year of conflict between Saudi-backed government forces and Houthi rebels.

He said a major ministerial-level donor conference due to take place next month urgently needed to yield results, as a US$2.1 billion dollar appeal is only seven per cent funded.

May Yaacoub spoke to Mr McGoldrick by phone from Yemen.

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