Geneva (dpa) – At an international conference, nearly 1.2 billion US dollars (roughly 1.13 billion euros) in humanitarian assistance has been raised for Yemen, a country ravaged by civil war. According to the United Nations, more than 30 countries promised further concrete donations in Geneva on Monday. Germany pledged 120 million euros. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock emphasised: “For years we have been witnessing one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters in Yemen, to which the world keeps closing its eyes far too often.”
After almost eight years of civil war, more than 20 million people in the poorest Arab country – nearly two thirds of the population – need support. Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels had overrun the country in 2014, since which time they have controlled large areas, especially in the north. They are being fought by the government and a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia. The civil war has displaced millions of people in the country. More than two million children are severely undernourished, while hundreds of thousands are in a life-threatening condition.
Baerbock noted that 400,000 children are suffering from the most extreme hunger. She said that in light of the brutal Russian war of aggression against Ukraine in particular it is “our responsibility to make more humanitarian aid available worldwide, especially in Yemen”. Numerous poorer countries are suffering from surging food prices because Russia, in its war against Ukraine, has partly blocked Ukrainian exports of grain and fertiliser, and itself is finding it more difficult to export on account of the sanctions.
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