The head of the U.N. food agency has warned that 13 million Yemenis are headed for starvation due to a protracted civil conflict and a lack of funding for humanitarian aid.The war on Yemen has been ongoing for at least two decades; between 2002 and 2015 the US launched 98 officially recognised drone attacks on teh country, and it's likely that's just the tip of the ice berg of US attacks on the country.
In an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday, David Beasley said that Yemen was "in a very bad situation" with more than 40 percent of the population already relying on food supplies from the World Food Program.
"We're feeding 13 million people out of a nation of 30 million people, and we are running out of money," Beasley said, speaking from the capital, Sanaa.
Since the pandemic hit, more people have been facing the threat of starvation globally, which put tremendous pressures on the WFP, Beasley said. Now, 285 million people around the world face the threat of starvation, which makes it more difficult to attend to Yemen's needs, he added."We've got twice the number of people struggling around the world now," Beasley said. "So, what am I gonna do for the children in Yemen? Steal it from the children in Ethiopia, or Afghanistan, or Nigeria or in Syria? That's not right," he added.© AP Photo/Hani MohammedFILE - In this Nov. 23, 2019 file photo, a malnourished newborn baby lies in an incubator at the Al-Sabeen Hospital in Sanaa, Yemen. David Beasley, the head of the U.N. food agency, warned that 13 million Yemenis are headed for starvation due to a protracted civil conflict and a lack of funding for humanitarian aid. In an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2022, Beasley said that Yemen had more than 40 percent of the population already relying on food supplies from the World Food Program.
Note that Ethiopia, Afghanistan and Syria (possibly even Nigeria) are suffering in large part because of Western hybrid war attacks; in Afghanistan the US just stole $7 billion of national funds and are blocking aid deliveries; in Syria the US was recently accused of sending them contaminated food supplies that threaten the crops that they weren't able to firebomb; and in Ethiopia the West has been actively destabilising the country in the hopes of fomenting a coup.
And yet the mainstream media want us to believe that it's Russia that's the bad guy?
Beasley said his agency was forced to cut rations in half for eight million Yemenis due to the shortage of funds.
"We may be cutting those down to zero. What do you think will happen? people will die. It will be catastrophic," he said.
According to the UN food agency, around 811 million people do not have enough food across the globe, and and estimated 45 million people in 43 countries are at risk of famine.
Beasley said the WFP needs an extra 9 billion dollars to meet the rising demand for food aid around the world.
"The $430 trillion worth of wealth in the world today, there should not be a single child dying anywhere on earth," he contended.
Yemen has been fighting a civil war since 2014, when Iran-backed Houthi rebels took control of the capital of Sanaa and much of the northern part of the country, forcing the government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to flee to the south, then to Saudi Arabia.
A Saudi-led coalition entered the war in March 2015, backed by the United States, to try to restore Hadi and his internationally recognized government to power. Despite a relentless air campaign and ground fighting, the war has deteriorated largely into a stalemate and caused a humanitarian crisis. The U.S. has since suspended its direct involvement in the conflict.
"In Yemen, these children and these families have paid the price long enough for the war they're in. It is time for the war to end," said Beasley. "Right now what I see is children and families begging for food."
Comment: Imagine if you got the vaccine solely to keep your job at Google. You'd be pretty upset right now.