HALF OF YEMEN A STEP AWAY FROM FAMINE, UN WARNS

Half of Yemen a Step Away from Famine, UN Warns

Yemeni children stand amid the rubble of a building damaged in an airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition on the capital Sanaa on Jul.13, 2015.


The United Nations food agency is warning that Yemen’s food shortage means the country is just “one step” away from famine.

Ten of Yemen’s 22 governorates are facing food insecurity at an "emergency" level, the U.N.’s World Food Programme said Friday.

WFP's Deputy Regional Director Matthew Hollingworth, speaking in the Yemeni capital Sana’a, said that the country is one of the "hardest places in the world today to work" due to the escalation of violence across the country.

"We are doing well, we are improving our reach and getting to more people every month, but clearly with half of the country now just one step away from famine, we need the international community to really come behind us and support us, particularly over the next few months," he added.

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Yemen has been hit by a brutal civil war since March of this year, with southern separatists and forces loyal to the government of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi fighting Houthi militants and supporters of the former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Both factions claim sovereignty over the country.

Gulf nations such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have been engaged in a U.S.-backed bombing campaign on Houthi group outposts across Sana'a, exacting a high civilian toll. Human rights groups have accused the Gulf coalition of war crimes.

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The escalating violence has led to food insecurity for 14.4 million people of the country's 23 million population, meaning they are struggling to get enough food to live healthily. Of the 14.4 million people facing food insecurity, 7.6 million are in desperate need of food assistance, with over 500,000 children severely malnourished.

Clashes between forces aligned with President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and Houthi rebels have escalated in recent weeks in and around Taez, Yemen’s third largest city. Taez is of key strategic importance due to its location between south Yemen and the capital. The U.N. says more than 5,700 people, half of them civilians, have been killed since the beginning of the conflict and over 1 million people displaced.

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