One year after a Saudi coalition imposed a blockade on Yemeni ports temporarily halting life-saving supplies, Yemenis are still living a “never-ending nightmare”, low on food and fuel, a senior aid official said this week.
Yemen, one of the poorest Arab countries, is locked in a nearly four-year-old war that pits Iran-aligned Houthi rebels against the government backed by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the West.
For several weeks at the end of 2017, the Saudi coalition imposed a blockade on Yemeni ports which it said was to prevent Houthis from importing weapons. This had a severe impact on Yemen, which traditionally imports 90 per cent of its food.
Jan Egeland, a former UN aid chief who now heads the Norwegian Refugee Council said since the blockade, food and fuel imports remain low and prices have soared, leaving millions on the brink of starvation as violence continues.
“The past 12 months have been a never-ending nightmare for Yemeni civilians”, he said in a statement.
Here are some facts about what has been happening inside the war-torn country:
• The brutal war has caused the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, according to the United Nations, with 22 million Yemenis dependent on aid out of a population of around 25 million.
• The UN aid coordinator warned that a further 10 million Yemenis could face starvation by the end of the year. More than eight million are already severely short of food.
• Aid group Save the Children said a million more children in Yemen risked falling into famine, taking the total number to 5.2 million.
• Fighting flared this week in Yemen’s main Hodeidah port, where most food imports and relief supplies enter, leaving thousands trapped on the southern outskirts of the Red Sea port, according to the UN.
• Western countries, like the United States and Britain, have called for a ceasefire to support efforts to end a war that has killed more than 10,000 people.
• After international pressure the Saudi-led coalition lifted the blockade but tightened ship inspections, slowing down imports.
• Soaring prices have put some basic commodities out of reach for many Yemenis and the central bank has struggled to pay public-sector salaries on which many depend as foreign exchange reserves dwindle.
Sources: Norwegian Refugee Council, Save the Children, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Reuters
