World Food Programme Launches Yemen Appeal
Media Line News Agency
July 22, 2009
By Adam Gonn
The World Food Programme will need an additional $23 million for its program in Yemen.
The United Nations organization has asked international donors to provide the money - a sum that represents 42 percent of the annual budget for Yemen - so that it can continue to provide aid for the 1.6 million needy people in Yemen. The total population of Yemen is 20 million.
"The situation in getting pretty critical" Gian Carlo Cirri, World Food Program Country Director in Yemen, told The Media Line. "We are lacking funding to continue our operations" he said.
Yemen is classified as a least-developed country and is ranked 151st of 177 countries in the UN Development Program´s 2005 Human Development Report. The major environmental issues facing the country include a chronic water shortage and a significant lack of arable land - only 3 percent of the terrain is suitable for agriculture.
As a result, an estimated 43 percent of all households are ´generally food-insecure´ with 22 percent ´definitely food-insecure´ and 8 percent ´food-insecure with severe hunger´, according the UN.
As in many other countries faced with food insecurity, children are hit the hardest. In Yemen, one in eight children suffers from malnutrition. One in two children under the age of five are malnourished.
There are currently two initiatives being run by the Programme in Yemen that do not have enough funding to continue: the Food for Education and Food for Health programmes.
Under the two initiatives, poor families in rural areas receive food as an incentive for visiting health facilities regularly and for sending their daughters to school, which contributes to improving and maintaining the food security and nutritional status of families.
In addition to the financial problems caused by the harsh natural conditions, the central government in 'San'aa is facing an uprising in the north-west of the country.
The unrest is led by rebels affiliated with the Al-Houthi clan based in the north, who have been involved in violent clashes with government forces since 2004, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of people on both sides.
Al-Houthi fighters belong to the Zaidi minority, an offshoot of Shi´ite Islam. They wish to restore the Zaidi imamate to Yemen, which was overthrown in a coup in 1962. Their other main grievance is that they feel the Yemenite government is too closely allied with the United States.
"Yemen has proven to be extremely resilient and able to confront major crisis in the past," Cirri said. "The uniqueness of the situation is that all the challenges are coming together at once."
"In a context where oil prices are plummeting and this makes up more than 70% of the government´s revenue, the situation is getting more and more complex and diminishing the capacity of the government to address these issues," he said.
Meanwhile, local media is reporting that two people have been killed in two separate events in southern Yemen after police opened fire on demonstrations marking 15 years since the end of the country´s civil war, which saw the North defeat the South.
While the government in the North celebrated the anniversary as reunification of the country, protesters in the South used the occasion to renew calls for secession.
Yemen has been divided into North and South for well over 150 years, since a British colony was established in Aden. North Yemen gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1918 and South Yemen was established after the British withdrew in 1967.
North and South Yemen competed for over two decades from their respective capitals in Sana'a and Aden. Backed by Saudi Arabia and Libya, the North invaded the South in 1972, and the South invaded the North seven years later.
The World Food Programme will need an additional $23 million for its program in Yemen.
The United Nations organization has asked international donors to provide the money - a sum that represents 42 percent of the annual budget for Yemen - so that it can continue to provide aid for the 1.6 million needy people in Yemen. The total population of Yemen is 20 million.
"The situation in getting pretty critical" Gian Carlo Cirri, World Food Program Country Director in Yemen, told The Media Line. "We are lacking funding to continue our operations" he said.
Yemen is classified as a least-developed country and is ranked 151st of 177 countries in the UN Development Program´s 2005 Human Development Report. The major environmental issues facing the country include a chronic water shortage and a significant lack of arable land - only 3 percent of the terrain is suitable for agriculture.
As a result, an estimated 43 percent of all households are ´generally food-insecure´ with 22 percent ´definitely food-insecure´ and 8 percent ´food-insecure with severe hunger´, according the UN.
As in many other countries faced with food insecurity, children are hit the hardest. In Yemen, one in eight children suffers from malnutrition. One in two children under the age of five are malnourished.
There are currently two initiatives being run by the Programme in Yemen that do not have enough funding to continue: the Food for Education and Food for Health programmes.
Under the two initiatives, poor families in rural areas receive food as an incentive for visiting health facilities regularly and for sending their daughters to school, which contributes to improving and maintaining the food security and nutritional status of families.
In addition to the financial problems caused by the harsh natural conditions, the central government in 'San'aa is facing an uprising in the north-west of the country.
The unrest is led by rebels affiliated with the Al-Houthi clan based in the north, who have been involved in violent clashes with government forces since 2004, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of people on both sides.
Al-Houthi fighters belong to the Zaidi minority, an offshoot of Shi´ite Islam. They wish to restore the Zaidi imamate to Yemen, which was overthrown in a coup in 1962. Their other main grievance is that they feel the Yemenite government is too closely allied with the United States.
"Yemen has proven to be extremely resilient and able to confront major crisis in the past," Cirri said. "The uniqueness of the situation is that all the challenges are coming together at once."
"In a context where oil prices are plummeting and this makes up more than 70% of the government´s revenue, the situation is getting more and more complex and diminishing the capacity of the government to address these issues," he said.
Meanwhile, local media is reporting that two people have been killed in two separate events in southern Yemen after police opened fire on demonstrations marking 15 years since the end of the country´s civil war, which saw the North defeat the South.
While the government in the North celebrated the anniversary as reunification of the country, protesters in the South used the occasion to renew calls for secession.
Yemen has been divided into North and South for well over 150 years, since a British colony was established in Aden. North Yemen gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1918 and South Yemen was established after the British withdrew in 1967.
North and South Yemen competed for over two decades from their respective capitals in Sana'a and Aden. Backed by Saudi Arabia and Libya, the North invaded the South in 1972, and the South invaded the North seven years later.