SANA'A — Britain will provide humanitarian aid to around one million Yemenis this year as part of its two-year support of £196 million to the country pledged at the Riyadh donor conference last year, the Yemeni official agency Saba reported Monday quoting a statement by a UK minister. Alan Duncan, the UK Minister of State for International Development, said at a press conference in Sana'a the aid will be focused on providing foodstuffs, shelter requirements and water services for 1.65 million people suffering from food insecurity. The aid plan is to provide shelter needs for 300,000 people, regular allowances or food ration cards for 430,000 people, emergency aid to 200,000 people affected by natural crises, medical assistance to 25,000 people and to help 68,000 people make living and thousands others to get jobs and improve their income performance, Duncan said. “The move remains within the UK support to help Yemen and its people overcome the challenges facing the political settlement,” he added. Britain is one of the main sponsors of the political transition under a GCC-brokered power-transfer deal that was reached after the 2011 unrest. Duncan's statement comes amid repeated warnings by the World Food Program that about 10 million Yemeni people are still in dire need for humanitarian aid. Last year, the WFP said 43 percent of the Yemeni people, more than 10 million, were living under the poverty line and warned that more than a million children were suffering from acute malnutrition. At the news conference, Duncan highlighted the children's suffering saying half of the Yemen's children below five suffer from extreme malnutrition, a quarter of whom have no access to healthcare services. The UN has confirmed that Yemen needs $716 million in humanitarian aid this year, 20 percent up from the last year's needs, he said, pointing out the WFP has said about five million Yemeni people are still in dire need for food aid. “Yemen and donors should focus on the roots not the symptoms of the humanitarian crisis in the country, mainly blamed on conflicts with armed groups including Al-Qaeda that displaced hundreds of thousands of Yemenis in recent years,” he said. Yemen is also facing another challenge amid continuous exodus of migrants and refugees from horn of Africa countries. Official reports have said the country hosts more than one million Africans. Last year, donors pledged about $8 billion in urgent aid to Yemen during the two-year transitional period but funds are yet to be appropriated and channeled. — Agencies
