Yemen has received only 7% of needed relief funds: UN

By Shukri Hussein

ADEN, Yemen

Only 7 percent of the $2.1 billion requested by the UN for war-torn Yemen has been received so far, according to UN Humanitarian Affairs Coordinator for Yemen Jamie McGoldrick.

McGoldrick made the assertion at a Tuesday press conference held at the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)’s office in the southern city of Aden, which currently serves as Yemen’s temporary administrative capital.

According to the UN official, the country’s ongoing conflict has resulted in one of the word’s gravest humanitarian crises, with some 19 million people -- almost two thirds of Yemen’s total population -- in need of humanitarian assistance.

The lives of seven million Yemenis, he warned, now face the threat of starvation as a direct result of the conflict.

McGoldrick went on to accuse Yemen’s media of failing to inform the international community of the magnitude of the country’s mounting humanitarian crisis.

Yemen has been racked by chaos since 2014, when the Shia Houthi militia group and its allies overran capital Sanaa and other parts of the country, forcing members of the country’s Saudi-backed government to temporarily flee to Riyadh.

In 2015, Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched a massive military campaign aimed at reversing Houthi gains in Yemen and restoring the country’s pro-Saudi government.

The ongoing conflict has left some 10,000 Yemeni civilians dead and another three million internally displaced, according to UN figures released in January.