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UN food agency says 13 million Yemenis may face starvation

UN food agency says 13 million Yemenis may face starvation

The UN agency, World Food Program, has warned that 13 million Yemenis are headed for starvation due to a  lack of funding for humanitarian aid in the war-torn country, Sanaa reports.

A WFP’s head David Beasley in his recent interview said that Yemenis was “in a very bad situation” with more than 40 percent of the population already relying on food supplies from the UN food agency and international humanitarian aid. According to Beasley, the WFP feeds 13 million people out of a nation of 30 million people. Unfortunately, the agency is running out of money, so, the stravation in Yemen is getting closer.

Beasley said his agency was forced to cut rations in half for eight million Yemenis due to the shortage of funds.

In 2020, the pandemic has deteriorated the economic situation across the globe, especially in the poor nations. That put tremendous pressures on the WFP, Beasley said. According to the official figures, 285 million people on the planet face the threat of starvation. In Yemen, the situation is just frightening.

“We’ve got twice the number of people struggling around the world now,” Beasley said. “So, what am I gonna do for the children in Yemen? Steal it from the children in Ethiopia, or Afghanistan, or Nigeria or in Syria? That’s not right,” he added.

To avoid the food crisis, the WFP needs an extra 9 billion dollars to meet the rising demand for food aid around the globe. “The $430 trillion worth of wealth in the world today, there should not be a single child dying anywhere on earth,” the WFP chief contended.