UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations warned Tuesday that Yemen was on theverge of widespread famine.
“There is now a clear and present danger of an imminent and great bigfamine engulfing Yemen,” UN Under Secretary General for HumanitarianAffairs Mark Lowcock said.
He urged a humanitarian ceasefire around facilities involved in food aiddistribution, and infrastructure, at a meeting of the Security Councilconvened on the British initiative because of the deterioration in Yemen.
“The parties to the conflict continue to violate international humanitarianlaw,” and while earlier UN estimates put those in danger of famine at 11million, the real number facing it now is 14 million people.
Since the last UN warning in September, “the situation (on the ground) hasgotten worse,” Emergency Relief Coordinator Lowcock said.
Yemen s brutal conflict has since 2015 left some 10,000 people dead and hascreated what the UN has dubbed the world s worst humanitarian crisis. -APP/AFP