Saudi alliance to give Yemen $1.5B
riyadh — Saudi Arabia on Monday announced $1.5 billion in new aid for Yemen, where nearly three years of conflict has devastated the local economy and pushed millions to the brink of famine, causing what the United Nations describes as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
The kingdom said on Monday the coalition it heads in Yemen would also “lead the expansion of additional Yemeni ports” to receive cargo and humanitarian assistance, ensure multiple daily flights of cargo planes carrying aid from Saudi Arabia to Yemen’s Marib province and establish “safe passage corridors” to ensure transportation of aid to non-governmental organizations operating inside Yemen.
“The coalition will coordinate... $1.5 billion in new humanitarian aid funding for distribution across UN agencies and international relief organisations,” the coalition announced in a statement.
The coalition pledged up to $40 million for the expansion of ports to accommodate additional humanitarian shipments, adding that it would set up an air corridor between Riyadh and the central Yemeni province of Marib to run multiple aid flights of C130 cargo planes.
The coalition has already pumped billions of dollars worth of aid into the country, yet the war has still cut food deliveries by more than half and pushed the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country to the edge of famine with outbreaks of cholera and diphtheria.
The coalition said it would set up 17 additional “safe-passage corridors” to facilitate overland transport for humanitarian organisations operating in the remote interiors of Yemen.
“The coalition is placing its military resources at the disposal of these broad-ranging humanitarian operations,” said coalition spokesman Turki Al Maliki.
“We are backing a professionally planned and detailed humanitarian mission with military power and precision to guarantee that the humanitarian aid reaches the people who need it to lift their suffering.”
The coalition will coordinate... $1.5 billion in new humanitarian aid funding for distribution across UN agencies and international relief organisations.” Saudi-led coalition
The new aid programme seeks to open land, sea and air lanes to Yemen to boost monthly imports to 1.4 million metric tons from 1.1 million last year, the statement said.
The expansion of ports will be supported with up to $40 million from the Saudi-led coalition. The coalition said that it would also allocate up to $30 million to cover transportation costs of non-humanitarian shipments intended for the port of Hodeida, in rebel-held territory, to “their intended destination in Yemen”.
Additionally, the kingdom said it will make a donation of up to $2 billion in fuel for the transportation of humanitarian aid.
Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia has been leading a coalition of nine Arab countries against Yemeni rebels and their allies, who overran Yemen’s capital and forced the government into exile. The rebels, known Houthis, who are backed by Iran, continue to control the capital, Sanaa, and territory in Yemen’s north, which borders Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia’s announcement on Monday is being followed by a press conference as the kingdom and its embassies abroad assertively promote the country’s recent humanitarian efforts in Yemen, including a deposit of $2 billion in Yemen’s Central Bank last week after an urgent appeal was made to save the currency from collapse and the country from “inevitable famine”. Yemen’s currency slid further against the dollar late last year after the coalition blocked access to all of Yemen’s ports for several weeks in response to a Houthi missile launched at the Saudi capital.
Yemen imports about 90 per cent of the country’s staple food and nearly all of its fuel and medicine, according to the UN.
The United Nations says more than 22 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance and 8 million are on the brink of famine.
The United Nations on Sunday made what it described as a record appeal for aid to Yemen, calling for nearly $3 billion in humanitarian relief for the crisis-plagued country.
The war has killed more than 10,000 people and displaced 3 million. The US supports the coalition with refueling, logistics and intelligence.