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UNITED STATES ANNOUNCES ADDITIONAL HUMANITARIAN AID FOR THE PEOPLE OF YEMEN
4 MINUTE READ
May 6, 2020

An estimated 17 million people are at risk of severe hunger or starvation in Yemen according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) as of April 2017; 3.2 million people are conflict-related internally displaced persons (IDPs), and over 460,000 children under five years are acutely malnourished. Since fiscal year 2016, USAID Food for Peace has supported WFP and non-governmental organization partners to provide humanitarian assistance, which included more than 474,000 MT of U.S.-sourced wheat, peas, and vegetable oil, as well as support to food voucher programs and therapeutic nutritional products for UNICEF, like the ready-to-use therapeutic food bag (RUTF) that the child pictured is eating.

 

Wednesday, May 6 2020
Office of Press Relations

 

Today, Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo announced nearly $225 million in additional emergency aid to the people of Yemen, who continue to face the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. This funding brings the total humanitarian assistance provided by the U.S. Government in Yemen since Fiscal Year 2019 to more than $1.1 billion.

This assistance, provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), will fund the emergency food operation of the World Food Programme (WFP) in southern Yemen, as well as a reduced operation in northern Yemen, where Houthi obstruction forced the WFP to scale down in April 2020. USAID supports and commends the WFP for taking this difficult step in light of the Houthis’ ongoing interference, which violates globally accepted humanitarian principles. This additional U.S. assistance will enable the WFP to continue reaching more than eight million hungry people throughout Yemen each month.

The United States remains extremely concerned by the Houthis’ ongoing interference in aid operations, which prevents millions of people from receiving the assistance they need to survive. While this hindrance forced the U.S. Government, the WFP, and other organizations to suspend some aid programs in northern Yemen, the United States Government stands ready to support our partners wherever they are able to operate independently, and at levels that enable them to exercise adequate oversight over their programs. They must be able to work free from interference to ensure aid is reaching the people for whom it is intended. USAID’s priority remains delivering life-saving aid to the most vulnerable populations in Yemen.