By Fatima Muhammad
JEDDAH — UN reports on the humanitarian disaster show that 21.2 million people in Yemen need different forms of humanitarian aid and that 19.3 million of them do not have access to safe drinking water, 14.1 million suffer a shortage of food, and 2.2 million children suffer from acute malnutrition, said Abdur-Raqueeb Saif Fath, minister of local administration and chairman of the Higher Committee for Relief in Yemen.
He was speaking here on Sunday at a preparatory meeting for a conference to support Yemen to be organized by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) next year.
Addressing the meeting, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Partnerships with Middle East and Central Asia Rashid Khalikov said that seven million people in Yemen do not know from where they will get their next meal.
He said that only $150 million has been received from the total $1.6 billion pledged in 2016.
Yousuf Al-Othaimeen, OIC secretary-general, said that the humanitarian issues will remain a top priority for the OIC in the coming years. The goal, he said, is to find ways to support the Yemeni people suffering because of the attacks mounted by the Houthi-Saleh militias against the legitimate authorities.
The conference to support Yemen will be organized by the OIC in cooperation with the UN, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and a number of international donors namely the US, Europe, Germany, Sweden, Japan and UK.
