The head of the UN food agency warned after a visit to Yemen that his underfunded organization may be forced to seek hundreds of millions of dollars in private donations in a desperate attempt to prevent widespread famine in the coming months, describing the conditions of the war. nation as “hell.”
The global food program needs at least $ 815 million in aid to Yemen over the next six months, but it only has $ 300 million, the agency’s chief executive, David Beasley, told The Associated Press in an interview. He said the agency would need another $ 1.9 billion to meet the year’s targets.
Beasley visited Yemen earlier this week, including the capital of Sanaa, which is under the control of Houthi rebels, backed by Iran. He said in a child malnutrition room at a Sanaa hospital he saw children losing their lack of food. He said many were on the verge of death for totally preventable and treatable causes, and they were the lucky ones to receive medical attention.
He said the world must wake up from the bad things that have been put in Yemen, particularly for the youngest in the country, some of whom he had seen in the hospital beds of Sanaa Hospital.
“In a children’s room or in a hospital room, you know you usually hear tears and laughter. There is no crying, no laughter, no dead silence, ”he said on Tuesday afternoon, speaking to the AP by video conference from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he had just landed from Yemen.
“I was going from room to room and literally kids who would be fine anywhere else in the world, they could be a little sick but they would recover, but not here.”
“This is hell,” he said. “It’s the worst place on earth. And it’s totally artificial. ”
The UN has warned that 16 million people in Yemen (or about half the population) could suffer from severe food insecurity. Tens of thousands of people are already living in famine, in what aid organizations have called the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. Some 400,000 children need immediate assistance to save lives from deadly malnutrition. Worsening fuel shortages could lead to millions more in deep poverty.
Since the outbreak of the Yemeni civil war six years ago, UN-led relief efforts have been chronically underfunded. This year’s global fundraising campaign was also short-lived, more so than in previous years, because aid dollars have shrunk as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Last month, a conference of commitments raised just over half of the international community than was needed to continue food aid services for the following year.
Yemen, already the poorest country in the Arab world, has been embroiled in a fierce war since 2014, when Houthis descended from its northern enclave and took control of Sanaa, forcing the internationally recognized government to flee. . In the spring of 2015, a US-backed coalition backed by the United States launched a destructive air campaign to evict the Houthis by imposing a land, sea and air embargo on Yemen.
Throughout the conflict, humanitarian agencies have faced obstacles in securing help for those most in need, especially in Houthi-controlled territories; obstruction, mistrust, and fighting have played an important role.
Beasley said his organization has made gains on these fronts, especially in accessing and accountability to the Houthi authorities, and that now the hurdle is simply a lack of funding.
“We’ve turned a corner with the Houthis … in terms of cooperation, collaboration,” he said.
He announced a new program that verifies the recipients of a cash aid program using a biometric system to ensure it goes to the right people. It is a scheme that the organization plans to expand, if they get more funding.
It is still unclear where more money could come from. Beasley predicted more catastrophes in 2021 if world leaders do not prioritize helping the most vulnerable countries, including Yemen, Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Syria.
“By May, June and July, if we don’t have large amounts of money in these places, you will have hunger, mass destabilization and mass migrations,” he said.
One source of funding for Yemen could be a new anonymous aid fund. Beasley confirmed the reports of the Hunger Relief Fund, created by wealthy private donors, and said some of them could be from the United States and the Gulf. He said WFP was already in talks with the fund. I wouldn’t elaborate.
Earlier this month, The New Humanitarian publication, which focuses on the aid industry, reported on the emergence of the Hunger Relief Fund, created by anonymous benefactors to help deal with the crisis. Yemen, and wrote that he was already in talks with UN agencies and other aid groups.
Beasley said he has already been in touch with billionaires around the world to get them to contribute in some way. So far, the only stipulation that was achieved with the money from the new anonymous fund would be for it to be aimed at those who are hesitant on the brink of starvation, he said.
“My God, I will earn any dollar I can get from anywhere in the world to save a child’s life right now,” he said.
Beasley reiterated calls for the war to be stopped, even though the situation on the ground in Yemen is poised for a new escalation, as Houthi and government forces fight for Marib’s oil-producing province. The fighting there has displaced 15,000 people over the past month, many of whom had already fled the conflict in other areas, according to the UN migration agency.