Urgent funds needed to run food aid operations in Yemen, says UN agency

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today called on donors to provide an urgent injection of $3.3 million in funds so that it can feed for the next four months nearly 80,000 Yemenis who have been displaced by intermittent conflict in the northwest of the country.

WFP Yemen Country Director Mohamed El-Kouhene said improved security in the Sa’adah governorate, where the conflict is centred, in recent months has allowed the agency to start assisting many more people across the region. Before then, the violence had confined the operation largely to Sa’ada city.

The agency said in a news release that it estimates it will need to feed 77,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) from now until at least next March, double the number of people it has been helping since the operation began in June.

Under the scheme WFP provides food to those who cannot meet their own needs and the Yemeni Government provides security and logistical assistance.

Conflict between Yemeni Government forces and followers of the rebel movement of Abdul-Malik al-Houthi has flared intermittently since 2004, but in the latest round of fighting that began in January, the homes and possessions of tens of thousands of people have been destroyed, forcing many to flee.