The UN has warned Yemen is at risk of famine, with 76 percent of the population in need of humanitarian aid. The saudi-led coalition has authorized a major port to operate, allowing supplies to reach those in need.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/H. Mohammed
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The World Food Program (WFP) on Tuesday heralded as a "breakthrough" the Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen's authorization of a major port to operate, allowing the offload of desperately needed food supplies, while warning that the country was at risk of famine in 2018.
The coalition has authorized for the main rebel-held port of Hodeida, which handles 70 percent of imports, to operate until January 19.
On Monday, a ship carrying the four cranes docked in Hodeida after months of being blocked by the Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen's internationally recognized government.
As the war between rebels and the Saudi-backed government nears its fourth year, more than three-quarters of Yemenis are now in need of humanitarian aid and some 8.4 million people are at risk of famine, up from 6.8 million in 2017, the United Nations said.
"We appeal to parties on the ground in order to stave off famine so that we can continue regularly to get food, medicines in, be it from humanitarian or the commercial side," Bettina Luescher of the UN's WFP told a Geneva briefing.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the cranes would "significantly boost the discharge of humanitarian cargo."
"This will allow for faster delivery of relief items for Yemeni families in the grips of the world's biggest hunger crisis," he said.
Yemen: An ever-worsening crisis
Yemen has struggled to cope with crises prompted by its atrocious civil war, including catastrophic hunger and devastating cholera outbreaks. DW examines the conflict and how it affects the country's civilian population.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/H. Mohammed
War: The 'root cause' of Yemen's disasters
The UN has identified conflict as the "root cause" of Yemen's crises. Tens of thousands of people have been killed since the war erupted in 2014, when Shiite Houthi rebels launched a campaign to capture the capital, Sanaa. In March 2015, a Saudi-led coalition launched a deadly campaign against the rebels, one that has been widely criticized by human rights groups for its high civilian death toll.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/H. Mohammed
Fighting keeps food from the famished
The conflict has prevented humanitarian aid from reaching large parts of the civilian population, resulting in more than two-thirds of the country's 28 million people being classified as "food insecure." Nearly 3 million children and pregnant or nursing women are acutely malnourished, according to the UN World Food Program.
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Displacement: Converging crises
More than 3 million people have been displaced by conflict, including marginalized communities such as the "Muhammasheen," a minority tribe that originally migrated from Africa. Despite the civil war, many flee conflict in Somalia and head to Yemen, marking the convergence of two major migration crises in the Middle East nation. Yemen hosts around 250,000 Somali refugees, according to UNHCR.
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Cholera: A deadly epidemic
The number of suspected cholera cases has exceeded more than 2 million and least 3,700 people have died from the waterborne bacterial infection in Yemen since October 2019, said the WHO. Although cholera can be easily treated, it can kill within hours when untreated.
Image: Reuters/K. Abdullah
Unsuspecting victims of the'war on terror'
In Yemen, violence goes beyond civil conflict: It is considered a strategic front in the war on terrorism. The country serves as the operational base for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, dubbed the "most dangerous" terrorist group before the rise of the "Islamic State." The US routinely uses drones to target al-Qaida leadership. However, civilians have often been killed in the operations.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Y. Arhab
Children's fate: Future marred by tragedy
In a country paralyzed by conflict, children are one of the most at-risk groups in Yemen. More than 12 million children require humanitarian aid, according to the UN humanitarian coordination agency. The country's education system is "on the brink of collapse," while children are dying of "preventable causes like malnutrition, diarrhea and respiratory tract infections," according to the agency.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/H. Mohammed
Peace: An elusive future
Despite several attempts at UN-backed peace talks, the conflict continues to rage on. Saudi Arabia has vowed to continue supporting the internationally recognized government of Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. On the other hand, Houthi rebels have demanded the formation of a unity government in order to move forward on a political solution. A peace deal, however, remains elusive.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/H. Mohammed
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'World's largest humanitarian crisis'
The United Nations' efforts to address what the UN secretary‑general has described as "the world's largest humanitarian crisis" have been hampered by a crippling blockade of rebel-held ports by the Saudi-led coalition that intervened in support of the ousted government in March 2015.
After a rebel missile attack on Riyadh airport in November, the coalition even stopped UN aid deliveries but it has since eased that measure.
A total of 9,245 people have been killed in Yemen since the coalition intervened in 2015, according to World Health Organization figures, and more than 50,000 have been wounded, as well as millions displaced from their homes.
In addition to violence and food shortages, communicable diseases have also taken a hold on the war-torn country.
A diphtheria outbreak is "spreading quickly", with 678 cases and 48 associated deaths in four months, Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organisation (WHO) said, adding that a vaccine campaign had begun in the country.
Additionally, more than 1 million people have contracted cholera with more than 2,000 deaths as a result, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
