FAO: Severe Food Insecurity In 8 Houthi-Controlled Yemeni Governorates

A cook works at a kitchen in Aden, Yemen, October 2, 2021. REUTERS/Fawaz Salman
A cook works at a kitchen in Aden, Yemen, October 2, 2021. REUTERS/Fawaz Salman
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FAO: Severe Food Insecurity In 8 Houthi-Controlled Yemeni Governorates

A cook works at a kitchen in Aden, Yemen, October 2, 2021. REUTERS/Fawaz Salman
A cook works at a kitchen in Aden, Yemen, October 2, 2021. REUTERS/Fawaz Salman

Eight Houthi-controlled governorates in Yemen suffer from severe food insecurity, according to a household survey released this week by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) through the Data in Emergencies Monitoring System.

“Nearly 54 percent of the households experienced hardships due to food shortages and adopted food consumption-based coping strategies,” the alarming survey revealed, adding that families residing in governorates controlled by Houthi militias frequently adopted coping strategies and were eating less preferred foods and limiting portion size at mealtimes.

The survey showed that those families were borrowing money, buying food on credit, selling household assets and reducing health expenses.

“The proportion of households resorting to emergency coping strategies is alarming and has increased from the previous rounds,” the survey said.

In Hodeidah, Al Jawf, Al Mahwit, Amran, Dhamar, Hajjah, Saadah, Sanaa and Taiz, over one-third of the households resorted to emergency coping strategies.

This fourth-round survey reached 2,452 households through computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI) conducted from 29 March to 30 April 2022. Households were surveyed across all 22 governorates of Yemen.

It said that the Hajjah governorate had a high prevalence of food insecurity, hunger and inadequate diet and that Hodeidah, Al Jawf, Al Mahwit, Amran, Dhamar, Ibb and Sanaa had a high prevalence of food insecurity.

FAO’s collected data revealed that 75 percent of livestock producers reported difficulties, including access to feed at the market (67 percent), animal diseases or deaths (35 percent) and access to pasture (30 percent).

It also said that of the producers selling livestock and livestock products, 66 percent faced difficulties.

As for the most reported difficulty, FAO cited the access to fuel due to its high price.

It said that 93 percent of fishery households reported difficulties with fishery and aquaculture production.

Additionally, nearly 66 percent of the households reported a decrease in income, of which 32 percent reported that the decrease was less than half when compared to the same period in a typical year.

In Abyan, Ad Dali, Aden, Al Bayda, Hodeidah, Al Mahwit, Amran, Dhamar, Haijah, Ibb, Lahj, Raymah and Sanaa city, over 60 percent of the households reported a decrease in income.

Concerning crops, 76 percent of crop producers faced difficulties during crop production. Of those, 59 percent cited insufficient irrigation or rainwater.

Of the crop producers, 37 percent reported a decrease in the area planted, and 55 percent expected a reduced harvest compared to a typical year.

The household hunger scale (HHS) estimated that 38 percent of the households are experiencing moderate to severe hunger.

As per the Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS), 43 percent consumed three to four food groups per day, and 22 percent had very low dietary diversity of less than two food groups per day.

The Food Consumption Score (FCS) estimated a 45 percent prevalence of inadequate food consumption (borderline and poor) of which 22 percent experienced poor food consumption.



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.