Saturday, July 09, 2016

Yemen and Famine

Yemen, which has been in chaos from a civil war since last year. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warns “At least 7 million people - a quarter of the population - are living under Emergency levels of food insecurity.” That is near famine level. Malnutrition rates are at an “alarming stage”.

People displaced by the war have lost their livelihoods. Agriculture has been badly damaged. It’s not just the conflict that is causing the food shortages. Natural disasters including cyclones and locust invasions have harmed food production. The WFP is feeding around 3 million Yemenis life-saving food aid each month.

There cannot be peace in Yemen if the population continues to live on the brink of famine, not knowing where their next meal is coming from. Yemen needs a peace treaty to end the violence and begin reconstruction. Food aid will be needed for a long time to come.


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