UN Paints A Worsening Picture of Already Dire Situation in Yemen
UN special envoy Hans Grundberg and UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths on Tuesday painted a worsening picture of the already dire situation in the Arab world’s poorest nation.
They said the past month brought a multiplication of combat zones and the end of January saw nearly two-thirds of major UN aid programs being scaled back or closed.
Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia and some of its Arab allies have been carrying out deadly airstrikes against the Houthi Ansarullah movement in an attempt to restore power to fugitive former president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.
The war has killed tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, and resulted in what the UN has described as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
Grundberg said a recent coalition airstrike on a detention facility in Yemen’s Sa’ada “was the worst civilian casualty incident in three years,” and he pointed at an “alarming” increase in airstrikes on Yemen, including on residential areas in Sana’a and the port area of Hudaydah.
Griffiths said more than 650 civilians were killed or injured in January by airstrikes, shelling, small arms fire and other violence, “by far the highest toll in at least three years.”
“The war is finding people in their homes, schools, mosques, hospitals and other places where civilians should be protected,” he said. “On Jan. 21, an airstrike hit a detention facility in Sa’ada killing or injuring more than 300 detainees.”
Neither Grundberg not Griffiths saw any signs of the conflict abating.
Grundberg said he will begin consultations next week with the warring parties, political parties, civil society and experts on his plan to move toward a political settlement along three tracks — political, security and economic.
He stressed that “trust is low and ending this war will require uncomfortable compromises which no warring party is currently willing to make.”
“It is therefore incumbent upon all of us,” Grundberg said, “including this council, to exert every possible effort to impress upon the parties to this conflict that there is no sustainable military solution.”
In the midst of war, Yemen has long been viewed as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, possibly eclipsed at the moment by Afghanistan.
But Griffiths warned that “aid agencies are quickly running out of money, forcing them to slash life-saving programs.”
He said the UN World Food Program reduced food rations for 8 million people in December and starting in March “those 8 million people may get no food at all — or just a reduced ration.” In March, the UN may also have to cancel most humanitarian flights in Yemen, he said.
Funding shortages could also deprive 3.6 million people of safe drinking water and end programs to combat gender-based violence and promote reproductive health, he said.
Griffiths called the scale of the current funding gaps in Yemen “unprecedented,” saying the UN has never before contemplated giving millions of hungry people no food or suspending humanitarian flights.
According to the UN humanitarian office, the 2021 humanitarian plan for Yemen received $2.27 billion out of its $3.85 billion requirement, the lowest funding level since 2015. The 2022 plan hasn’t been released.
Griffiths announced that Sweden and Switzerland will co-host a high-level pledging event for Yemen with the United Nations on March 16.
Source: blackchronicle.com
