Oxfam Warns of Famine Disaster in Yemen

Rasa - Oxfam warned on Wednesday that Yemen is “one step away from famine” as fighting around the Port of Hudaydah threatened to cut off essential supplies.

News ID: 438110

Date: 07 June 2018 - 23:17

RNA - “Yemen is already the world’s worst humanitarian crisis and is steadily slipping towards famine,” Mohsin Siddiqui, country director of the UK-based group, said in a press statement, Middle East News reported.

“If this vital route for supplying food, fuel and medicine is blocked, the result will be more hunger, more people without healthcare and more families burying their loved ones,” he added.

“There has been far too much destruction, disease and death. The international community needs to put pressure on warring parties to end the fighting and return to peace negotiations,” Siddiqui stated.

“The fighting has already forced hundreds of families to flee their homes,” Oxfam warned.

An estimated 90 percent of Yemen’s food and fuel is imported, in which 70 percent comes through the Port of Hudaydah. Furthermore, Hudaydah also handles the imports of medicine and other healthcare supplies.

An estimated 8.4 million people are at risk of severe famine and more than 22 million people, 75 percent of Yemen’s population, are in need of humanitarian assistance.

The war in Yemen has resulted in a collapsed economy and a cholera outbreak that has affected over 1.1 million people.

847/940