Int'l Reports: One Yemeni Child Dies Every 10 Minutes from Hunger

Children displaced by conflict receive food aid from a Kuwaiti charity at a displaced camp in Maarib, Yemen (AFP)
Children displaced by conflict receive food aid from a Kuwaiti charity at a displaced camp in Maarib, Yemen (AFP)
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Int'l Reports: One Yemeni Child Dies Every 10 Minutes from Hunger

Children displaced by conflict receive food aid from a Kuwaiti charity at a displaced camp in Maarib, Yemen (AFP)
Children displaced by conflict receive food aid from a Kuwaiti charity at a displaced camp in Maarib, Yemen (AFP)

Rashad Mohammed Al-Alimi, President of the Presidential Leadership Council, stressed on Saturday the need to make optimal use of UN assistance to improve the living conditions of local communities in Yemen.

Al-Alimi’s statement came while two reports revealed that one child dies every 10 minutes from hunger in Yemen, while 89% of internally displaced in Yemen are unable to meet their daily food need and more than 20 million people require humanitarian assistance.

The Islamic Relief said that after nine years of conflict, malnutrition rates in Yemen are some of the highest ever recorded with more than 20.7 million people in need of humanitarian aid to survive and with a child dying every 10 minutes from hunger.

The organization said families in Yemen are facing ongoing armed conflict, displacement, disease and economic decline. It also noted malnutrition is spiraling in Yemen as people begin to feel the impact of recent cuts to humanitarian aid, leaving many families unable to afford essential food.

Islamic Relief said 17.6 million people in Yemen are facing food insecurity.

The organization, which operates from the British city of Birmingham said nearly 80% of the population live below the poverty line in the country while the price of essential food in the market is rising rapidly.

“Our teams have observed a surge in malnourished children over the past few months through our work in 159 nutrition centers across the country and the price of essential food in the market is rising rapidly, leaving many families unable to afford it,” the organization said.

It added that after 9 years of war, malnutrition rates in Yemen are some of the highest ever recorded and are expected to worsen. “Around 2.7 million women and 5 million children under 5 years old are estimated to require treatment for acute malnutrition in 2024,” it revealed.

Islamic Relief then urgently appealed to the international community to ensure the humanitarian response in Yemen is appropriately funded.

It said aid has been vital in preventing Yemen falling into famine in recent years, and it saved countless lives. But it added that if the international community continues to overlook the humanitarian situation in Yemen “then we will see conditions badly deteriorate again.”

UN and Yemeni Cooperation

Meanwhile, Al-Alimi made his statement during a meeting at Al-Maashiq presidential Palace with Abdallah Al Dardari, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Arab States, and Julien Harneis, the UN Resident Coordinator in Yemen, said the government-run news agency, SABA.

Al-Alimi welcomed UN’s active efforts aimed at alleviating the Yemeni people’s suffering caused by the ongoing war in the country.

The Chairman stressed the importance of building upon the efforts of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the Secretariat General of the Gulf Cooperation Council to address economic, developmental, and humanitarian challenges.

For his part, the UN Assistant Secretary General said the United Nations plans to deploy international expertise to help in developing a framework for the national economic recovery plan in Yemen.

A recent UN report revealed that approximately 89% of internally displaced people in Yemen are unable to meet their daily food needs, due to the worsening vulnerabilities and the erosion of the ability to withstand and adapt after nine years of conflict.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said in the report that the assessments it conducted during 2023 indicate high levels of social and economic vulnerabilities among displaced families, as only 11% of internally displaced people can meet their daily food needs, while 89% cannot.

In 2023, UNHCR conducted 136,913 household assessments, covering 820,440 individuals.

The results of these assessments indicate that 70% purchase less preferred or cheaper, lower quality food, 52.7% reduce portion sizes while 48.2% reduce the number of meals per day.

The results also indicate high levels of socio-economic vulnerabilities among IDP households and that opportunities to earn an income are limited and largely consist of informal and hazardous jobs.

The results further showed that 48.6% of the population report no source of income and 41.5% report monthly incomes of less than $50.

As a result, IDP households continuously struggle to meet their basic needs and many turn to harmful coping mechanisms to get by.

UNHCR assessments showed that 69.6% rely on debt to meet their basic needs, 46.4% reduce expenditure on essential non-food items, 41.1% reduce expenditure on healthcare and medicine, 10.8% sell productive assets, and 11.9% of children drop out of school.

The UN agency said Yemen remains among the most critical humanitarian crises globally.

For the majority of IDPs, humanitarian assistance, including in-kind food assistance and cash transfers, remain a critical source of life-saving support, it added.



Sudan Army Says Recaptures Key State Capital

Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
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Sudan Army Says Recaptures Key State Capital

Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP

The Sudanese army said Saturday it had retaken a key state capital south of Khartoum from rival Rapid Support Forces who had held it for the past five months.

The Sennar state capital of Sinja is a strategic prize in the 19-month-old war between the regular army and the RSF as it lies on a key road linking army-controlled areas of eastern and central Sudan.

It posted footage on social media that it said had been filmed inside the main base in the city.

"Sinja has returned to the embrace of the nation," the information minister of the army-backed government, Khaled al-Aiser, said in a statement.

Aiser's office said armed forces chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had travelled to the city of Sennar, 60 kilometres (40 miles) to the north, on Saturday to "inspect the operation and celebrate the liberation of Sinja", AFP reported.

The RSF had taken the two cities in a lightning offensive in June that saw nearly 726,000 civilians flee, according to UN figures.

Human rights groups have said that those who were unwilling or unable to leave have faced months of arbitrary violence by RSF fighters.

Sinja teacher Abdullah al-Hassan spoke of his "indescribable joy" at seeing the army enter the city after "months of terror".

"At any moment, you were waiting for militia fighters to barge in and beat you or loot you," the 53-year-old told AFP by telephone.

Both sides in the Sudanese conflict have been accused of war crimes, including indiscriminately shelling homes, markets and hospitals.

The RSF has also been accused of summary executions, systematic sexual violence and rampant looting.

The RSF control nearly all of the vast western region of Darfur as well as large swathes of Kordofan in the south. They also hold much of the capital Khartoum and the key farming state of Al-Jazira to its south.

Since April 2023, the war has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted more than 11 million -- creating what the UN says is the world's largest displacement crisis.

From the eastern state of Gedaref -- where more than 1.1 million displaced people have sought refuge -- Asia Khedr, 46, said she hoped her family's ordeal might soon be at an end.

"We'll finally go home and say goodbye to this life of displacement and suffering," she told AFP.