UN Seeks $2.1 Billion to Avert Famine in Yemen
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - The United Nations appealed on Wednesday for $2.1 billion to provide food and other life-saving assistance to 12 million people in Yemen who face the threat of famine after two years of war.
"The situation in Yemen is catastrophic and rapidly deteriorating," Jamie McGoldrick, UN humanitarian coordinator in Yemen, said in the appeal document , Reuters reported.
"Nearly 3.3 million people - including 2.1 million children - are acutely malnourished."
At least 10,000 people have been killed in the fighting in Yemen, which has unleashed a humanitarian crisis in the desperately poor Arabian Peninsula country.
In all, nearly 19 million Yemen is - more than two-thirds of the population - need assistance and protection, the UN said.
"Ongoing (Saudi-led) air strikes and fighting continue to inflict heavy casualties, damage public and private infrastructure, and impede delivery of humanitarian assistance," it said.
"The Yemeni economy is being willfully destroyed," it added, saying that ports, roads, bridges, factories and markets have been hit.
An estimated 63,000 Yemeni children died last year of preventable causes often linked to malnutrition, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said last week.
“In Yemen, if bombs don’t kill you, a slow and painful death by starvation is now an increasing threat,” Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said in a separate statement as the UN plan was launched.
