The government of Saudi Arabia intends to allocate $500 million to fund Yemen's response plan in late September, UN Under-Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock said during a Security Council meeting on Monday
UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th September, 2019) The government of Saudi Arabia intends to allocate $500 million to fund Yemen's response plan in late September, UN Under-Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock said during a Security Council meeting on Monday.
"I have just this morning received confirmation from the Saudi authorities that they plan on 25th September to transfer $500 million in a single payment to my office in the discharge of the pledge they made for the Yemen humanitarian response plan in February," Lowcock said.
The United Arab Emirates, Lowcock added, had also just allocated $200 million to the response plan, including $100 million for the World Food Program and an additional $100 million to other urgent priorities.
Lowcock warned that unless the funds are received promptly, the United Nations will not be able to re-open vaccination programs that have been shut down in the recent months.
In July, Lowcock said that due to a lack of funds, humanitarian agencies started to suspend regular vaccination campaigns in Yemen, affecting some 13 million people.
On February 26, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs secured $2.6 billion in aid pledges from various partners to fund the 2019 Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan.
The armed conflict in Yemen between government forces led by President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi and the Houthis has been ongoing since 2015. The United Nations has repeatedly called the Yemeni conflict the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with an estimated 24 million people - nearly 80 percent of the country's population - currently in need of aid and protection.
