In view of the catastrophic situation in Yemen, a country with civil war, the Austrian federal government wants to provide three million euros from the foreign disaster fund for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which is active on site. A corresponding decision is to be made in the Council of Ministers on Wednesday. Austria is helping to “alleviate the great need”, said Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) on Friday according to a broadcast.
Image: APA (AFP)
Yemen is “going through one of the most serious humanitarian crises in the world. 80 percent of the population need humanitarian protection and assistance,” said Kurz. Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler (Greens) specifically points out in the joint broadcast that two million children under the age of five suffer from acute malnutrition and that the help is “vital”. For Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP), the aid funds are “extremely important”; the population in Yemen is largely defenseless in the face of the pandemic.
The World Bank estimates that three quarters of the population in Yemen live in poverty. Then there is the civil war, a collapsed economy, cholera, scarce drinking water, floods and the impending famine – not to mention the corona pandemic.
The UN is already talking about the worst humanitarian crisis in the world in the impoverished country. More than half of the roughly 30 million inhabitants already do not have enough to eat. Last year only around 1.6 billion euros was raised for humanitarian aid from the UN – twice that would have been necessary. A donor conference is planned for Monday.
