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Planned pause in fighting in Yemen to pave way for over 1.1 mln people to get food aid: UN

Xinhua, July 11, 2015 Adjust font size:

The planned pause in fighting in Yemen, which is expected to start late Friday, can pave the way for more than 1.1 million people to receive food aid, and the UN agencies and its humanitarian partners are ready to deliver the aid, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters here Friday.

At a daily news briefing here, the spokesman said the planned truce for the humanitarian pause foresees the distribution of food to over 1.1 million people, the treatment of more than 126,000 malnourished children and support for 13,000 pregnant and lactating women.

Besides, 55,000 people can have access to the distribution of emergency shelter and essential household items, he added.

There are more than 21 million Yemenis, with four-fifths of the population in need of humanitarian aid, he said.

"The World Food Programme (WFP) says it is ready to scale up its operations in Yemen, provided that the agreed humanitarian pause takes effect," he said. "WFP has already prepared supplies to ship to Aden."

At the same time, WFP requires an additional 103 million U.S. dollars for emergency food distributions until August of 2015, he said. "Sufficient funds need to be secured now to ensure the timely arrival of relief commodities in Yemen in the coming months. "

On Thursday, Dujarric said that a humanitarian ceasefire would begin in Yemen on Friday, lasting until the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, on July 17.

More than 3,000 people have been killed since a Saudi-led coalition began air strikes in March to drive back Houthi rebels and restore the government.

Aid agencies say a blockade on Yemen has worsened the humanitarian crisis which is gripping the country. Endite