United Nations: The $274 million (Dh1,006 million) that Saudi Arabia promised months ago to fund a UN emergency aid appeal for Yemen hasn’t arrived because the kingdom and the world body are still discussing the terms of the funding, while aid groups begin to warn that people trapped by the conflict are on the brink of starvation.
The UN humanitarian chief this week warned that the delay is causing significant pain as the world body and aid groups use their own stretched financial resources to make up for money they had expected Saudi Arabia to provide.
“Much has already been spent by UN agencies and their partners advancing their own funds in expectations of the original Saudi pledge of $274 million being forthcoming,” Stephen O’Brien told the UN Security Council. “Additional resources are urgently needed, now.”
Saudi Arabia in early May announced that it would completely fund a “flash” appeal of $274 million for the Yemen crisis.
At the same time, Saudi Arabia is leading a US-supported coalition delivering air strikes on Al Houthi militiamen who hold large parts of neighbouring Yemen, including the capital, Sana’a.
Aid workers have expressed concern that Saudi Arabia has asked for restrictions on the $274 million to keep Al Houthis from benefiting from the aid. The UN will not confirm that.
On Thursday, Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN secretary-general, told reporters that memoranda of understanding between Saudi Arabia and various UN agencies remain to be signed, and that discussions continue. Spokespeople for the UN humanitarian office and the World Food Programme also did not comment on the terms under discussion.
Saudi Arabia’s UN ambassador, Abdullah Al Muallimi, told reporters on Tuesday that the agreements were still being completed, with no explanation of the delay.
O’Brien, who plans to visit Yemen in the coming weeks, has said the UN’s overall humanitarian aid appeal of $1.6 billion for the country is only 15 per cent funded.
The shortage of aid funding, compounded by a months-long sea and air blockade imposed by the Saudi-led coalition, has left a large majority of Yemen’s 26 million people with shortages of food, fuel and other basic supplies, O’Brien said.
“The impact of this conflict on civilians is indeed catastrophic,” O’Brien told the council. He said more than 21 million people need humanitarian assistance. “Some aid agencies are now using the term starvation to describe the situation of those most food insecure,” he said.
International aid group Oxfam on Tuesday estimated that more than six million Yemenis are on the verge of starving.
Efforts at humanitarian pauses in Yemen to deliver aid have failed, with the most recent attempt announced by the Saudi-led coalition quickly falling apart early on Monday.
