Dubai: The United Nations and aid groups have warned of grave consequences for Yemen after an international pledging conference failed to raise enough money to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in the war-torn country.
Overshadowed by the conflict in Ukraine, aid-starved Yemen — already suffering the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, according to the UN — is on the verge of total collapse.
With the country almost completely dependent on imports, aid groups say the situation will only worsen following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which produces nearly a third of Yemeni wheat supplies.
Some 80 percent of its around 30 million people depend on aid for survival, after seven years of a conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands of people, directly or indirectly.
The UN voiced disappointment after Wednesday’s conference raised less than a third of the target to help 17.3 million of Yemen’s needy.
It has repeatedly warned that aid agencies are running out of funds, forcing them to slash “life-saving” programmes.
“A shortfall in funding means the needs of people will not be met,” Auke Lootsma, the UN Development Programme̵7;s resident representative to Yemen, told AFP.
“The outlook for next year looks very bleak for Yemen. This is the bleakest situation we̵7;ve had so far in the country.”
