Turkey’s disaster response agency gives food in Yemen

By Gulsen Topcu

ADEN, Yemen (AA) - A Turkish agency distributed 1,000 packages of food in Yemen’s southern Lahij province.

The Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) gave out the food aid for displaced people in the Kharaz camp of the war-weary country.

Mustafa Ayaz, AFAD's Yemen representative, said that the food was handed out as part of Turkey’s aid project to distribute more than 25,000 food packages in eight cities of Yemen for the victims of the conflict.

Yemen has been beset by violence and chaos since 2014, when Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including the capital, Sanaa. The crisis escalated in 2015 when a Saudi-led military coalition launched a devastating air campaign which aimed at rolling back Houthi territorial gains.

Since then, tens of thousands of Yemenis, including civilians, are believed to have been killed in the conflict while another 14 million are at risk of starvation, according to the UN.

The UN figures shows that Yemen is facing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with more than 10 million people driven to the brink of famine. More than 22 million people in Yemen are desperate for humanitarian aid and protection.

*Writing by Burak Bir