Yemenis facing humanitarian crisis

The United Nations has painted a very gloomy picture of the humanitarian situation in Yemen, saying over 14 million Yemenis are in dire need of assistance.

Johannes Van Der Klaauw, the newly-appointed UN humanitarian coordinator in Yemen, said on Thursday that more than half of the people in the country need urgent aid to survive.

“We have a population of more than 25 million Yemenis, of which 14.7 million today is in need of any sort of humanitarian assistance. This is more than half of the population,” he said.

The UN official stated that millions of Yemenis do not have access to clean water, adequate sanitation or health assistance. He further noted that the UN needs nearly USD 600 million to tackle the problems in the country but only less than 20 percent of the money has been provided so far.

He also called on the international community to provide the country with the funds necessary for its development.

“The continuing humanitarian needs in Yemen are no longer as high on the agenda of the international community as they should be in our view,” said Van Der Klaauw.

Yemen is also grappling with a severe fuel and electricity crisis.

Press TV reported on Thursday that over the past days, thousands of cars have been waiting in long lines at gas stations in the Yemeni capital of Sana’a. The electricity crisis has also resulted in several blackouts across the country.

Many Yemenis say the transitional government has failed to resolve the economic and humanitarian problems gripping the country.

Yemen is among the poorest countries in the Arab world. Forty percent of the people in the country are living on two US dollars a day or less, and one third of them are grappling with chronic hunger.