UN warns of humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen

Due to a funds shortage, the UN's World Food Programme warns that it will have to suspend activities in Yemen, including nutrition support to school girls and 50,000 children under five years of age.

Sana'a, Yemen (dpa) April 28, 2010 -- The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Wednesday that Yemen could soon face a "humanitarian catastrophe," as a shortage of funds will force the agency to limit aid to some 250,000 people displaced by a conflict in northern Yemen.

"Before September, WFP will have to suspend activities entirely, including nutrition support to 50,000 children under five years of age," the relief agency said in a statement.

The group said it has received less than 30 percent of the funding it needs to continue offering food and nutrition activities to displaced families and "can no longer maintain its assistance."

The WFP said it needs more than 77 million dollars to overcome the shortfall in its 2010 funding and continue operations in Yemen.

In order to make the increasingly limited quantities of food last longer in the meantime, the WFP said it would reduce rations to 50 per cent of the planned May basket.

These ration cuts "will lead to a humanitarian catastrophe," the UN agency predicted.

Around 250,000 people were forced to leave their villages in the north-western province of Saada and parts of the neighbouring Amran province during the latest wave of fighting between the national army and the Shiite rebels, which lasted from August to February.

The Yemeni government and the insurgents, called Houthis after the family of their leaders, reached a cease-fire agreement on February 11 that ended a five-and-a-half-year conflict.

The WFP said the funds shortage would not only affect its aid to the internally displaced people (IDPs), but also its overall operation in the Arab country.

"More than 3.4 million persons overall will not receive the food and nutrition support they require, including malnourished mothers and children, families who are unable to meet their food needs, school girls, Somali refugees, and IDPs," it said.

Copyright: dpa