Food shortages, malnutrition rampant amid Yemen internally displaced: UN agencies

Most of Yemen's two million internally displaced people (IDPs) have been displaced for more than a year and scarce resources are increasingly overstretched, a UN report released Tuesday warned.

The UN refugee agency UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) jointly released a report on the country's displacement crisis, saying that shortages of food and malnutrition are widespread and reported in 84 percent of IDP locations.

According to the new report, since the beginning of the conflict in March 2015, more than 11 percent of Yemen's population -- some 3 million people -- has been forced to flee their homes for safety.

Almost two years later, prolonged hostilities and worsening conditions are forcing one million of those uprooted to return to the homes from which they fled, despite danger and insecurity across the country.

The report highlighted that a lack of access to income and basic services in areas of displacement are the main reasons pushing IDPs to return to their areas of origin, with 40 percent of key informants indicating that IDPs now intend to return home within the next three months.

"It's testament to how catastrophic the situation in Yemen has become, that those displaced by the conflict are now returning home because life in the areas to which they had fled for safety is just as abysmal as in the areas from which they fled," said Ayman Gharaibeh, UNHCR's country representative for Yemen.

"Those attempting to return face tremendous challenges," Gharaibeh added. "They often return to homes that have been damaged, in areas lacking essential services. They still need humanitarian aid and are often forced to flee their homes again." Endit