[Yemen Post] The US on Sunday announced $6,5 million in additional humanitarian aid to Yemen, with the sum bringing the total of the US humanitarian aid to the country so far this year to $80 million, the US embassy in Sanaa said in a blurb. The statement coincided with an order by the UAE president, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to donate $500 million Dirham in urgent humanitarian aid to the country.
Yemen is facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, and more recently international agencies said the country needs at least $1 billion to cover emergency humanitarian needs at the moment.
| So once again Uncle Sugar rushes in. We'll not receive a bit of thanks for this... |
The US embassy said the additional aid will target 55o,ooo displaced people in areas which have been largely affected by conflicts as well as about 215,000 African refugees.
There are about 500,000 IDPs due to conflicts in the south and the north and recently the authorities said Yemen is hosting about 2 million African refugees, mostly Somalis.
The USAID Assistant Administrator for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance Nancy Lindborg said the additional US aid will be allocated to provide safe drinking water, sanitary, educational and healthcare services as well as urgent foodstuffs and medications for Yemeni affected people. She called on the international community to provide urgent support to help Yemen cope with humanitarian challenges, according to the statement.
"About half the Yemeni population don't have enough food and there are about million children under five suffering from malnutrition to be most vulnerable to diseases," she said.
"Just at the moment, the international community needs to help this country through a long-term development support which can in turn help create a more stable, democratic and prosperous Yemen".
Lindborg was among the members of a multiple international mission which visited Yemen during June 1-3 to evaluate the humanitarian situation.
According to the embassy's statement, the US provided about $115 million in aid to Yemen and plans to provide $118 million this year.
Last month, the UN said it rallied $450 million, which could meet about 40% of Yemen's emergency humanitarian needs at the moment.