U.S. Agency Foresees Severe Famine in Yemen Under Saudi Blockade
lack of food and other basic needs where starvation, death and destitution are evident." Relief officials of the United Nations and other humanitarian groups have said at least seven million people are at risk of famine in Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country, because of restrictions on deliveries imposed by the Saudi-led military coalition
that has been fighting Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels since 2015. that an extreme
A Red Cross spokeswoman, Iolanda Jaquemet, was quoted by Reuters as saying
that fuel for municipal water pumps has been exhausted, putting at least 2.5 million people "at risk of another major outbreak of waterborne disease." The United Nations and humanitarian aid groups have beseeched Saudi Arabia to end the Yemen blockade, imposed in response to what the Saudis described as a ballistic missile fired from Yemen by Houthi rebels at Riyadh, the Saudi capital, on Nov. 4.
Two weeks ago, Mark Lowcock, the humanitarian relief coordinator for the United Nations, said
that unless the blockade was rescinded so food deliveries could resume, Yemen would suffer "the largest famine the world has seen for many decades, with millions of victims." The Famine Early Warning Systems Network, known as Fews Net, has long advised of the risk of possible famine in Yemen in the event of port closings or other obstacles to imports.
The American alert on Yemen, from the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, said
that a prolonged closure of key ports in Yemen "risks an unprecedented deterioration in food security" to its worst category, Phase 5, "across large areas of the country." The five-stage scale — with Phase 5 being famine — is used by humanitarian aid groups to anticipate the severity of potential hunger emergencies.
Farhan Haq, a spokesman for the United Nations, said on Tuesday
that the Saudi-led military coalition had not responded to its requests to resume emergency flights to Sana, Yemen’s capital, which is controlled by the Houthis.
In less accessible areas with the most severe current food insecurity, the warning said, "famine could emerge
even more quickly." Saudi officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the warning.