Donors promise Yemen $1.35 billion in aid at Saudi Arabia-UN virtual conference
International donors raised $1.35 billion in humanitarian
aid for Yemen on Tuesday but the amount fell short of the United Nations’
target of $2.4 billion needed to save the world’s biggest aid operation from
severe cutbacks.
The conflict in Yemen has left 80 percent of the
country’s population reliant on aid. The country now faces the spread of the
novel coronavirus among an acutely malnourished people.
Saudi Arabia hosted a virtual UN conference to help
counter funding shortages for aid operations in Yemen. In total, donors pledged
$1.35 billion to help aid agencies, UN aid chief Mark Lowcock told the
conference.
Saudi Arabia has already pledged $500 million, including
$25 million to help fight the coronavirus outbreak, Saudi ambassador to Yemen
Mohammed al-Jabir told Reuters.
Britain and Germany announced respectively $201 million
and $140 million. The US said last month it would extend $225 million in
emergency aid for food.
Lise Grande, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, told
Reuters before the conference the operation would face “catastrophic cutbacks”
if the donations fell short of $1.6 billion.
“We won’t be able
to provide the food people need to survive, or the health care they need or the
water or sanitation or the nutrition support which helps to keep 2 million
malnourished children from dying,” she said.
Some $180 million of required funding is needed to combat
coronavirus in a country with shattered health systems and inadequate testing
capabilities.
