WFP Says It Needs $2 Billion in Yemen

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) announced that it needs about two billion dollars to provide relief to Yemenis during 2022.

The program said on its official account on Twitter that it “currently provides food aid to about 13 million Yemenis”, out of 30 million, warning that “Yemeni families are currently facing unprecedented levels of hunger,” and that “20 million Yemenis need urgent humanitarian aid.”

Earlier, the United Nations announced that by the end of 2021, the US-Saudi aggression against Yemen will lead to the death of 377,000 people, directly and indirectly.

The aggression also led to the loss of the country’s economy 126 billion dollars, in one of the worst humanitarian and economic crises in the world, as most of the population of 30 million depend on aid, according to the United Nations.

Saudi Arabia, backed by the US and other key Western powers, launched the war on Yemen in March 2015 to restore power in Yemen to Riyadh’s former favorite officials. It has stopped way short of the goal, while killing tens of thousands of Yemenis and turning the entire country into the scene of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

The United Nations is taking advantage of the war on Yemen to collect donations in the name of humanitarian aid, ignoring the crimes committed by the US-Saudi aggression.

While millions of dollars are collected in the name of helping Yemenis, only a small percentage reaches the needy.

During a consultative meeting held by the Supreme Council for Management and Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and International Cooperation (SCMCHA) with humanitarian partners in Yemen, the Secretary of the Supreme Council for Humanitarian Affairs Abdulmohsen Tawoos stressed the importance of the United Nations office in Yemen to play its role in following up on donors to fulfill their obligations.

Tawoos urged the United Nations, through all its agencies, to make more efforts to open land, sea and air corridors and ports, and to pay the salaries of state employees.

He stressed the importance of implementing projects of a sustainable nature and livelihood projects as a priority because of their direct and sustainable results in alleviating the crisis for citizens. He pointed out that the allocation of percentages to the main offices within the budget of the projects presented as grants to Yemen affects the humanitarian response process.

The Secretary of the Supreme Council for Humanitarian Affairs explained that allocating percentages to the main offices leads to an increase in the percentage of operational expenses and thus delays the discussion and signing of those agreements in the Supreme Council. He pointed out that deducting percentages from the budgets of the main offices is inconsistent with the amount of funds required to implement the humanitarian response in Yemen.

Tawoos noted that deducting percentages of the granted funds increases the gap in the allocated funds on the one hand, and the failure of many donors to fulfill their obligations on the other.

“It is not logical to adopt percentages and amounts as humanitarian aid to Yemen at a time when these amounts did not actually reach the Yemeni society,” he added. “We should overcome the interest of the citizen who benefits from these projects and interventions, and that the partners are keen to reduce operating expenses as much as possible.”

The Secretary of the Supreme Council for Humanitarian Affairs stressed the need to raise the percentage of direct expenditures that actually reach the beneficiaries in a way that ensures access to the largest possible number of those affected.

For his part, Manea Al-Asal, head of the Cooperation Department at the Supreme Council for Humanitarian Affairs, explained that Yemeni society is subjected to collective punishment, and it is natural that Yemen is witnessing the worst crisis in the world.

“It is necessary to put in place an advocacy mechanism in the face of the siege imposed on Yemen. International organizations and agencies should be concerned with that,” he added. “The Supreme Council was accused of obstructing humanitarian projects due to its refusal to engage in projects whose financing the target group has benefited from is only 30%.”

He stressed that it is not possible to approve projects that deduct up to 70% of their total budget and the funding allocated for their implementation.