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UN food agency delivers food to 18,000 people in Yemen's Taiz city

Xinhua, February 16, 2016 Adjust font size:

The World Food Programme (WFP) successfully delivered food for 18,000 people inside an area undergoing heavy fighting in the central Yemeni city of Taiz, deputy UN spokesman, Farhan Haq, said here Monday.

The convoy entered the area of Al Qahira, carrying 3,000 family rations including vegetable oil, wheat, pulses and sugar -- enough for a family of six for one month, Haq said at a daily news briefing here.

"This is the second time WFP has had access to the Al Qahira conflict zones this year," he said.

Taiz is one of 10 governorates in Yemen that are in the grip of severe food insecurity at "Emergency" level -- one step below famine on the five-point classification scale.

At least one in five households in the area does not have enough food for people to lead healthy lives and many people face life-threatening rates of acute malnutrition.

Yemen has been mired in an all-out civil war since September 2014, when the Shiite Houthi group backed by forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh invaded the capital Sanaa and drove President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi into exile. The war has killed nearly 6,000 people. Enditem