Jun 11 2012 |
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UAE Pledges $136Mn In Aid To Yemen
UAE Pledges $136Mn In Aid To Yemen
The UAE has said it will donate Dh500mn ($136mn) in food aid to Yemen, in the face of a worsening humanitarian disaster that international aid agencies warn has left almost half the country’s population without adequate supplies of food, state-owned WAM news agency reported on 3 June. The Ruler of Abu Dhabi and President of the UAE Shaikh Khalifah bin Zayid Al Nuhayyan has “approved allocating Dh500mn to buy food and distribute it urgently to the brotherly Yemeni people,” the report said, adding it had been granted to “alleviate the suffering and ensure the availability of basic needs” to the Yemeni people in order to achieve “better security, stability and prosperity.”
A group of seven international charities warned last month that the country was on the brink of a “catastrophic food crisis,” estimating that 10mn Yemenis – making up around 44% of the population – were still malnourished, while 5mn were in need of emergency aid. Yemen has been gripped by a wave of popular unrest since early last year, which has not only left the economy in dire straits, but also aggravated the country’s security situation by allowing the regional wing of al-Qa'ida to expand its influence in the increasingly lawless south and set up a base from which to launch international attacks.
The announcement follows a pledge of more than $4bn by both Western and Gulf countries at the Friends of Yemen conference held in Riyadh on 23 May. Of this total, $3.25mn was promised by Saudi Arabia (MEES , 28 May). Two days earlier, the European Union (EU) unblocked an additional $6.2mn to help combat the escalating crisis in Yemen, bringing the total EU humanitarian assistance to nearly $31.1mn in 2012.
© Copyright MEES 2012.
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