UAE food aid offered to 448,000 Yemenis

Cairo: The UAE, a key partner in the Saudi-led alliance fighting Iran-allied Al Houthi militants in Yemen, offered food aid to 448,000 underprivileged Yemenis last month, WAM reported.

The beneficiaries included 320,000 children and 65,000 women. The aid is part of the UAE’s ongoing humanitarian and relief efforts to ease Yemenis’ plight caused by Al Houthi militia.

Aid workers from the Emirates Red Crescent (ERC) distributed over 64,000 food baskets in nine Yemeni governorates, to assist in reintroducing normal living conditions in the country’s liberated areas.

Yemen has been devastated since Al Houthis deposed the internationally recognised government and overran swathes of the poor country in late 2014, causing a severe humanitarian crisis.

In 2015, the Arab coalition, led by the UAE and Saudi Arabia, intervened in Yemen at its government’s request. Repeated UN attempts to broker peace in Yemen have fizzled out due to Al Houthis’ recalcitrance.

In recent months, the Yemeni government forces, supported by the coalition’s air power, have dealt blows to the rebels and forced them to retreat from some territory.

Saeed Al Kaabi, the Director of UAE Humanitarian Operations in Yemen, said the ERC field relief teams continue to deliver assistance to Yemeni families, who are facing hardships due to the current events in the country.

He added that the teams are distributing basic food supplies in the country’s liberated governorates to help families cope with dire humanitarian conditions.

Last week, the UN warned half of Yemen’s population – that is, around 14 million people – could soon be on the brink of famine with complete reliance on humanitarian assistance for survival.

On Monday, a Saudi vessel,carrying the first consignment of fuel aid worth $60 million a month, docked at Yemen’s southern port city of Aden, Al Arabiya reported.

The aid, part of assistance from the Saudi Programme for Yemen’s Development and Reconstruction, is aimed at supplying 64 electricity stations in the liberated governorates home to over 8.5 million people with the fuel needed for their operation.

“Development in Yemen will not wait for the consent of Al Houthi militias supported by Iran to accept political solutions,” said Mohammad Bin Saeed, the Saudi ambassador to Yemen and the supervisor of the programme. He accused Al Houthis of plundering Yemen’s central bank and deliberately starving Yemenis.

“Iran spends time and resources to smuggle missiles and fighters while the kingdom works on the comprehensive building of Yemen,” he added.

The Arab coalition has repeatedly accused Iran of illegally providing Al Houthis with weaponry including missiles, dozens of which have been fired by the extremists towards the Saudi territory.