UN says $4.3bn required for Yemen humanitarian needs this year

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the funds are required to help 17.3 million most vulnerable people in Yemen.

The agency added it plans to deliver “urgent life-saving” assistance to 14 million people in 2023. In total, 21.6 million — two-thirds of the country’s population — would need humanitarian assistance and protection services this year, down from 23.4 million people in 2022, OCHA estimated.

Last year, the UN humanitarian plan cost $4.27 billion to assist 17.9 million people.

Saudi Arabia launched the devastating war on Yemen in March 2015 in collaboration with its Arab allies and with arms and logistical support from the United States and other Western states.

The objective was to reinstall the Riyadh-friendly regime of former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and crush Yemen’s Ansarullah popular resistance movement, which has been running state affairs in the absence of a functional government in Yemen.

While the Saudi-led coalition has failed to meet any of its objectives, the war has killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis and spawned the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.