War-torn Arab nation Yemen is facing “total social, economic and institutional collapse”, a senior UN official has told the Security Council this week.
Stephen O’Brien, the UN’s emergency relief coordinator, told the council on Tuesday that the people of Yemen “are being subjected to deprivation, disease and death as the world watches”.
“This is not an unforeseen or coincidental result of forces beyond our control,” he said. “It is a direct consequence of actions of the parties and supporters of the conflict, and is also, sadly, a result of inaction – whether due to inability or indifference – by the international community.”
Mr O’Brien said Yemen is home to the world’s largest food insecurity crisis with more than 17 million people “food insecure” and 6.8 million of them “one step away from famine”.
“Crisis is not coming, it is not looming, it is here today – on our watch and ordinary people are paying the price,” he said. “What is worse the threat of famine is driven and exacerbated by conflict. Yemen is not facing a drought. If there was no conflict in Yemen, there would be no descent into famine, misery, disease and death – a famine would certainly be avoidable and averted.”
The country has seen two years of fighting between forces of the internationaly-recognised government – backed by a Saudi-led international coalition – and Houthi rebels which has killed more than 8,000, injured more than 40,000 and allowed terror groups like al-Qaeda to reportedly increase their presence in the country.
Recent months have also seen a cholera outbreak gain momentum with 60,000 cases and 500 associated deaths since late April. As many as 150,000 cases are projected in the next six months.
Mr O’Brien said that to date only 24 per cent of the $US2.1 billion required for humanitarian relief has so far been funded.
“Time is running out,” Mr O’Brien said. “The Yemeni people face a ‘triple threat’ of armed conflict, famine, and deadly disease that has already killed, injured, displaced or otherwise affected millions and it will spare no one if it continues unchecked.”
Meanwhile, the Ismael Ould Cheikh Ahmed, the Secretary-General’s special envoy for Yemen, told the council that “we are not close” to a peace agreement between the warring parties.
“The reluctance of the key parties to embrace the concessions needed for peace, or even discuss them, remains extremely troubling,” he said.
