The United Nations on Wednesday had designated the war in Yemen as a Level 3 humanitarian crisis, its most severe category. A humanitarian pause now could also further efforts to create space for productive political dialogue as part of the UN-facilitated political transition process in which all of Yemen’s communities have important roles to play. The United Nations humanitarian office says the declaration of a top-level emergency mobilizes U.N.-wide staffing and funding to scale up aid delivery.
Advertisement
More than 21.1 million people – over 80 percent of Yemen s population – are in need of aid, with 13 million facing food shortages. Around 9.4 million have little or no access to water, increasing the risk of contracting water-borne diseases such as cholera.
He calls on the parties to agree, at the very minimum, on an immediate pause in hostilities until the end of the holy month of Ramadan so that humanitarian aid can be delivered into and across Yemen and reach people cut off from vital supplies for months.
Ten of Yemen s 22 governorates are classified as food emergencies – one step below starvation, according to the United Nations. The rebels seized the capital in September and swept south, forcing Hadi to flee to Saudi Arabia.
Yemen slid deeper into turmoil when the Saudi-led coalition launched air strikes in late March to stop an advance by the Iran-backed Huthi rebels who drove the president into exile.
A week of UN-brokered talks in Geneva earlier this month failed to narrow differences.
Advertisement
He said 11.7 million people have been targeted for assistance under a revised United Nations humanitarian response plan.
