The Middle East Regional Director for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Hossam al-Sharqawi, has said that the April truce in Yemen has not improved humanitarian conditions in the country and that the Russian-Ukrainian war is increasing child starvation in the Gulf country.
Following his recent visit to Yemen, al-Sharqawi said that the war in Ukraine has increased fuel, wheat, and other food prices in the country.
The “price hike is intolerable. The situation in Yemen was catastrophic before the war in Ukraine, and it is now 100 times worse”, he said.
“Children are dying in Yemen. They are not only suffering from hunger, but they are also dying of it”, he said.
Al-Sharqawi argued that the “worse than catastrophic” conditions in Yemen require the IFRC to “increase efforts in our humanitarian work”, and that polluted water has become a major problem in recent weeks.
The IFRC is the largest humanitarian network in the world, comprising 192 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
In Yemen, the truce between the government and Iran-backed Houthi forces, the first phase of which lasted for two months, was extended on 2 June.
The UN recently announced that more than 25.5 million Yemenis are currently living below the poverty line, due to a war that has continued in the country for more than seven years.
The war has displaced more than four million Yemenis and left two million children without an education, the UN reports.
Over the last period, the UN has given warnings about humanitarian operations’ lack of spending in Yemen and the resulting reduction in aid.
According to the UN, by the end of 2021, the war had killed 377,000 Yemenis and left most of the population of 30 million dependent on aid.
