Food crisis grows in Yemen

Trucks loaded with food supplies leave for Amran, Yemen. (World Humanitarian Summit)

The war in Ukraine could make the food crisis in Yemen even worse, the World Food Programme warned last week. Ordinary people in Yemen have rushed to buy sacks of flour, as the war could cut off supplies of wheat from Ukraine and Russia.

One wholesaler in Yemen’s capital Sanaa, Mohammed al-Nimri said, “People are now rushing to purchase, people are on alert, anticipating a crisis. They are taking ten, 20 sacks.”

The World Food Programme has warned repeatedly that Yemen is already on the brink of famine. The West’s allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have waged a seven-year war on Yemen. It includes a blockade that has kept food, fuel and medicine from ordinary people Yet despite the crisis, Britain slashed aid funding to Yemen last year—while continuing to sell arms to its ally Saudi Arabia.