Funds shortage forces UN WFP to cut food aid to Yemen

By Mahmoud Barakat

ANKARA (AA) - The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) on Wednesday said it will reduce food assistance to war-torn Yemen as of January due to funds shortage.

WFP said it is running out of funds to provide food aid for 13 million Yemenis. In January, the UN body will provide a reduced food aid ration to eight million people.

It pointed out that 5 million people will be vulnerable to “famine conditions.”

"Every time we reduce the amount of food, we know that more people who are already hungry and food insecure will join the ranks of the millions who are starving,” said Corinne Fleischer, the WFP regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.

She pointed out that the available resources will be directed to those with “the most critical state.”

Yemen has been engulfed by violence and instability since 2014, when Iran-aligned Houthi rebels captured much of the country, including Sana’a.

A Saudi-led coalition aimed at reinstating the Yemeni government has worsened the situation, causing one of the world’s worst human-made humanitarian crises, with nearly 80%, or about 30 million people, needing humanitarian assistance and protection and more than 13 million in danger of starvation, according to UN estimates.

A recent UN report projected that by the year’s end, the death toll from the seven-year conflict will reach 377,000.

According to the WFP, more than 16 million people, half of the country’s population, suffer from acute hunger, while 2.3 million children are at risk of malnutrition.