Daily Times

Dubai: The United Nations and aid groups have warned of grave consequences for Yemen after an international pledging conference failed to raise enough money to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in the war-torn country.

Overshadowed by the conflict in Ukraine, aid-starved Yemen — already suffering the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, according to the UN — is on the verge of total collapse.

With the country almost completely dependent on imports, aid groups say the situation will only worsen following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which produces nearly a third of Yemeni wheat supplies.

Some 80 percent of its around 30 million people depend on aid for survival, after seven years of a conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands of people, directly or indirectly.

The UN voiced disappointment after Wednesday’s conference raised less than a third of the target to help 17.3 million of Yemen’s needy.

It has repeatedly warned that aid agencies are running out of funds, forcing them to slash “life-saving” programmes.

“A shortfall in funding means the needs of people will not be met,” Auke Lootsma, the UN Development Programme’s resident representative to Yemen, told AFP.

“The outlook for next year looks very bleak for Yemen. This is the bleakest situation we’ve had so far in the country.”