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Yemen

Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General (14 December 2017) - Yemen

excerpt

Yemen

Our humanitarian colleagues are concerned by the increasing number of districts in Yemen that are at risk of sliding into famine as the situation rapidly deteriorates, aggravated by the protracted conflict, limited imports of critical commodities necessary for the basic survival of the Yemeni people, lack of salaries, and collapsing basic services, especially health, water and sanitation services. A third of Yemen’s districts, where 10.4 million people live, are at heightened risk of famine. This means that the people do not know where their next meal will come from, leaving them more vulnerable to malnutrition and disease. Children who are malnourished are nine times more likely to die.

We also reiterate the call to the Saudi‑led Coalition to expedite the delivery of commercial food and fuel imports to Yemen’s Hodeidah and Saleef ports. Since the start of the blockade, on 6 November, the Coalition has not cleared any commercial fuel imports to Hodeidah. Since the easing of restrictions on 26 November, five commercial vessels carrying 116,000 metric tons of goods discharged at Hodeidah and Saleef, meeting a third of the food requirements for Yemen. Six commercial vessels have cancelled their requests to enter Hodeidah or Saleef due to long wait times.