The United Nations announced yesterday that it had received only 40 per cent of all recent international aid pledged for Yemen in the Riyadh conference.

A report issued by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Yemen said that the organisation “received only $558 million, out of $1.35 billion pledged by donors about a month ago to support the humanitarian response in Yemen.”

The report indicated that “the aid operation is on the brink of collapse unless donors fulfill their pledges immediately (…) as nearly 80 percent of the population are still in need of humanitarian assistance and protection.”

Adding that “the tragedy in Yemen unfolds with the growing need for humanitarian assistance and the depletion of funds allocated by relief agencies to provide life-saving aid.”

The UN report emphasised that Yemen needs “more than $3.2 billion in humanitarian aid during the current year 2020.”

In early June, countries and relief organisations announced that they would provide $1.35 billion to Yemen at a virtual donor conference that was hosted by Saudi Arabia and the United Nations.

Yemen has been witnessing a violent war for six years, which resulted in one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. As a result, 80 per cent of the country’s population is in need of humanitarian assistance, as millions are being pushed to the brink of starvation, the UN has warned.

-Agencies 

-File photo