Yemen has received its first food aid delivery after almost three weeks, following Saudi Arabia's earlier promise to reopen port access to the besieged country. War in Yemen has left some 7 million people facing famine.
Image: Reuters
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A ship carrying around 5,500 tons of flour docked in Yemen's rebel-held port of Hodeidah on Sunday, marking the first food aid delivery to the besieged country since November 6.
With some 7 million people in Yemen estimated to rely on food aid, the blockade had come under immense rebuke from multiple aid agencies, as well as the United Nations.
Abir Atifa, a spokesperson for the World Food Programme's Middle East and North Africa operations, said some 25,000 tons of wheat is set to be offloaded early on Monday.
Aggravating Yemen's crisis
Aid agencies have accused Saudi Arabia and its allies of aggravating Yemen's already desperate humanitarian crisis by imposing the blockade.
Almost 9,000 people have been killed since the Saudi-led coalition began laying siege to Houthi rebel-held areas of Yemen. Millions more face the risk of a deadly cholera epidemic.
On Friday, the charity Save the Children said that around 20,000 Yemeni children under the age of five were falling into severe malnourishment every month, "an average of 27 children every hour."
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.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/H. Mohammed
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.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/H. Mohammed
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.
