Around 7 million people are facing famine and 460,000 children are malnourished, says OCHA’s operations director
Yemen is facing a human-driven disaster, but the parties of the war are still in search of power, the UN’s Special Envoy to Yemen said Tuesday.
“There is no winner in this war, and the losers are suffering Yemeni people,” said Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, speaking on Yemen’s situation at the UN Security Council.
“As the nation gets poorer, leaders are getting richer, and they do not want to resolve the situation,” he said.
Ahmed said leaders are not interested in any agreement since they will lose their power and control over Yemen in case of any reconciliation.
“Around 15 million people do not have access to clean water or health services in Yemen,” said John Ging, director of operations at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), at the briefing.
He said around 7 million people are facing famine and 460,000 children are malnourished.
“More than 2,100 people have lost their lives due to cholera,” he added.
Yemen fell into civil war in 2014 when Houthi rebels overran the capital Sanaa and much of the country, forcing the government to set up an interim capital in the coastal city of Aden.
In 2015, Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched a devastating air campaign aimed at rolling back Houthi military gains in Yemen. Sudan is also part of the Saudi-led coalition.
According to UN figures, more than 10,000 people — including numerous civilians — have been killed to date as a result of the conflict.
