ZCZC
BFF-34
YEMEN-CONFLICT-FOOD-AID
Yemen food aid at risk of rotting: UN
SANAA, Feb 11, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Food aid in a warehouse on the frontlines
of the Yemen war is at risk of rotting, the UN said Monday, leaving millions
of Yemenis without access to life-saving sustenance.
The Red Sea Mills silos, located in the western port city of Hodeida, are
believed to contain enough grain to feed several million people for a month.
But the granary has remained off-limits to aid organisations for months.
“The World Food Programme (WFP) grain stored in the mills — enough to
feed 3.7 million people for a month — has been inaccessible for over five
months and is at risk of rotting,” read a joint statement by the UN aid chief
and special envoy for Yemen.
“We emphasise that ensuring access to the mills is a shared responsibility
among the parties to the conflict in Yemen.”
Hodeida, and its food silos, have been in the hands of Yemen’s Huthi
rebels since 2014, when the insurgents staged a takeover of large swathes of
Yemeni territories.
The coup prompted the military intervention of Saudi Arabia and its allies
the following year on behalf of the embattled government, triggering what the
UN calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. More than 10 million Yemenis
stand at the brink of starvation.
UN Yemen envoy Martin Griffiths, who in December secured a ceasefire
agreement for Hodeida between the Iran-backed rebels and Saudi-led coalition,
and UN aid chief Mark Lowcock on Monday said the rebels had made “efforts to
re-open the road leading to the mills” in the joint statement.
On Thursday, Lowcock issued a public plea to the Huthis to allow relief
groups to cross front lines to reach the Red Sea Mills, warning the remaining
grain could spoil.
The Yemen war has killed around 10,000 people since 2015, according to the
World Health Organization. Other rights groups estimate the toll is
significantly higher.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1638 hrs