This year's UN donor conference for Yemen only raised around 1.7 billion dollars (1.4 billion euros) in donations, which is less than half the amount needed. The result was “disappointing”, announced UN Secretary General António Guterres on Monday evening. The sum is less than at the donor conference last year and one billion dollars less than in 2019.
Image: APA (AFP)
This year, the UN will need around $ 3.85 billion for emergency aid in the civil war country. In the face of impending famine and millions of victims of the conflict, Guterres urgently asked for donations. “The humanitarian situation in Yemen has never been worse,” he said at the start of the online conference. Nevertheless, the donations fell last year – with “brutal” consequences. Organizations that provided water, food and medical aid should have reduced or stopped their work. “Cutting aid funds is a death sentence,” said Guterres.
Austria pledged six million euros in emergency aid for the civil war country for the current year. Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg named this amount on Twitter on Monday. “After years of conflict, the humanitarian situation in Yemen is deeply alarming,” wrote Schallenberg. The corona pandemic is exacerbating the situation.
According to the Foreign Ministry, the six million euro aid includes three million euros from the Foreign Disaster Fund (AKF), which is to be approved by the Council of Ministers this week. In addition, there are another two million from the foreign disaster fund and around one million from the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) for the UN children's aid organization UNICEF, it said.
Saudi Arabia, which is fighting the Houthi rebels with allies in Yemen, pledged $ 430 million and the United Arab Emirates, Riyadh's most important ally, pledged $ 230 million. The European Commission pledged 95 million euros. Foreign Minister Heiko Maas pledged a further 200 million euros for Germany.
Children suffer particularly badly from the conflict. “Childhood in Yemen is a special kind of hell,” said Guterres. Almost half of all children under five are at risk of acute malnutrition. Without rapid medical treatment, 400,000 could die. “The war is devouring a whole generation,” said the UN Secretary General. A total of 16 of the 29 million inhabitants need food aid.
In Yemen, a military alliance led by Saudi Arabia has been fighting alongside the government against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels for almost six years. They control large parts of the north and dominate almost all parts of public life there.
