MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st March, 2021) The European Union is sending $114.4 million in humanitarian aid to the people of Yemen, who continue to suffer amid an ongoing armed conflict, the European Commission said Monday.
The funding was announced by Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic earlier in the day at a virtual high-level pledging event for the humanitarian situation in Yemen, cohosted by the United Nations, Sweden and Switzerland.
"The European Commission is allocating ��95 million [$114.4 million] in humanitarian support to address the most pressing needs of people in Yemen amid record highs of child malnutrition, an imminent threat of famine and renewed fighting," the commission said in a statement, adding that the humanitarian aid will provide food, water, healthcare, education and sanitation.
According to the commission, over 2 million children and more than one million pregnant women are expected to suffer from malnutrition this year.
"The EU does not forget the dire situation of people in Yemen who are once again on the brink of famine after bearing the brunt of the world's worst humanitarian crisis," Lenarcic said, as quoted in the statement.
Yemen has been engulfed in a vicious armed conflict between the government forces, led by President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi, and the Houthi movement for several years now. The situation exacerbated after the Saudi-led coalition launched an air campaign against the Houthis in 2015, leading to the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. The UN reports that over 24 million Yemenis, which makes about 80 percent of the country's population, require humanitarian aid, while the number of internally displaced people has surpassed 3 million.
