Grain Stored in Yemen's Red Sea Mills at Risk of Rotting - UN Officials
Grain stored in Yemen's Red Sea Mills that could feed some 3.7 million people for a month is at risk of rotting away, two senior UN officials said in a joint statement
"The World Food Program (WFP) grain stored in the mills - enough to feed 3.7 million people for a month - has been inaccessible for over five months and is at risk of rotting," UN Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths and Under-Secretary-General for Emergency Relief Mark Lowcock said on Monday.
The statement added that the United Nations has strengthened efforts to provide food assistance to nearly 12 million people in need in Yemen and is encouraged by the Houthi rebels and Yemeni government working to create conditions for the UN personnel to access the storage facility without delay.
On Thursday, Lowcock issued a statement calling on groups affiliated with Yemen's rebel Houthi movement to give the United Nations access to the Red Sea Mills.
Lowcock said that forces linked to the Houthi movement have refused to let UN personnel cross the front lines to access the food storage.
Nearly 10 million people in Yemen are facing a severe lack of food.
In December, during UN-sponsored talks in Stockholm, Yemen's warring parties agreed to a ceasefire in Al Hudaydah and pledged to implement various humanitarian measures, including an exchange of prisoners and the establishment of humanitarian corridors.
Yemen has been engulfed in an armed conflict between the government forces led by President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and the Houthi rebels for several years. The Saudi-led coalition has been carrying out airstrikes against the Houthis at Hadi's request since March 2015.