Local Editor
Two UN agencies have warned of acute food shortages and a hunger crisis amounting to an "emergency" in Yemen, where Saudi Arabia has been waging a deadly war for some 15 months.
The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Program, in a report published on Tuesday, announced that food insecurity in Yemen has intensified significantly over the past year, and three million Yemeni children are currently at risk of malnutrition.
"At least seven million people - a quarter of the population - are living under emergency levels of food insecurity," the UN agencies said in a statement.
"This reflects a 15-percent increase since June 2015. A further 7.1 million people are in a state of crisis," they added.
Jamie McGoldrick, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, said, "This clearly shows the huge magnitude of the humanitarian crisis in Yemen."
"This is one of the worst crises in the world and is continuing to get worse," he said.
Saudi Arabia launched its military aggression against Yemen on March 26, 2015, in a bid to bring Hadi - who is a staunch ally of Riyadh - back to power and defeat the Ansarullah movement.
More than 9,400 people have been killed and at least 16,000 others injured since the onset of the aggression.
The Saudi strikes have also taken a heavy toll on the country’s facilities and infrastructure, driving 2.8 million people from their homes.
More than 80 percent of the population is in dire need of food, water and other humanitarian aid, according to the UN.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
