Ukraine conflict set to make more Yemenis hungry, WFP warns

Written by Alma Angeles on

More in Europe:

A wounded woman stands outside a hospital after the bombing of the eastern Ukraine town of Chuguiv on February 24, 2022, as Russian armed forces attempt to invade Ukraine from several directions, using rocket systems and helicopters to attack Ukrainian position in the south, the border guard service said.  (Photo by Aris Messinis / AFP)

The UN’s World Food Programme warned Thursday that the Russia-Ukraine conflict will likely increase fuel and food prices in war-torn Yemen, pushing more people into hunger as aid funding dwindles.

The announcement came as Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, sending oil prices past $100 per barrel.

European wheat prices also hit a record high on expectations of lower supplies as Ukraine and Russia are two of the world’s biggest producers.

At the start of this year, WFP was forced to reduce food rations for eight million people in Yemen, where a seven-year-long civil war between the government and Huthi rebels has pushed the country to the brink of famine.

“The escalation of conflict in Ukraine is likely to further increase fuel and food prices and especially grains in the import-dependent country,” said a WFP statement on Thursday.

“Food prices have more than doubled across much of Yemen over the past year, leaving more than half of the country in need of food assistance.

“Higher food prices will push more people into the vicious circle of hunger and dependence on humanitarian assistance.”

Yemenis displaced by conflict, receive food aid and provisions to meet heir basic needs, at a camp in the Khokha district of Yemen’s war-ravaged western province of Hodeida, on February 23, 2022. – The UN has estimated the war killed 377,000 people by the end of 2021, both directly and indirectly through hunger and disease. Millions have been forced to flee their homes and are dependent on aid to survive, in what the United Nations calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. (Photo by Khaled Ziad / AFP)

The WFP has repeatedly warned funds were drying up despite Yemen going through what the United Nations calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

It needs about $800 million in the next six months to provide full assistance to the 13 million people it has been helping.

The shortfall is giving the UN organisation no choice but to ring-fence money for five million people in Yemen “on the brink of famine”, leaving the other eight million who are suffering inadequate food supplies with only half rations.

The top donors to the WFP for its Yemen operations are the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Germany, the European Union, Sweden, Canada and Switzerland.

The UN last year appealed for $3.85 billion to pay for urgently needed aid, but just $1.7 billion was forthcoming.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed directly or indirectly in the Yemen conflict, while millions have been displaced.

“We have no choice but to take food from the hungry to feed the starving and, unless we receive immediate funding, in a few weeks we risk not even being able to feed the starving,” the WFP statement cited WFP Executive Director David Beasley as saying.

“This will be hell on earth,” he warned.

bur-dm/dwo

© Agence France-Presse