Brussels, 21/05/2012 (Agence Europe) - An extra €5 million have just been allocated to Yemen to help vulnerable populations cope with the food crisis, the European Commission announced on Monday 21 May. This additional aid, taken from the budget of ECHO (the Commission's humanitarian aid service), will help to improve access to drinking water, support food programmes, develop “money for work”-type programmes and provide 200,000 people with cash grants. It will bring to €25 million the humanitarian aid made available by the Commission for Yemen this year.
This funding decision comes two days ahead of the meeting of the “Friends of Yemen” in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), which will be attended by Kristalina Georgieva, European Commissioner for International Cooperation in Crisis Response, on Wednesday 23 May.
“The situation in Yemen has gone from bad to desperate - 44% of the population are surviving on meagre food rations. We are increasing our aid not just because we must prevent malnutrition from rising further but also because hunger and suffering can only destabilise the fragile ongoing transition. Yemeni people desperately need the international support to rebuild their lives and their country. We cannot fail them”, the commissioner explained on Monday. In certain regions of the country, malnutrition has reached levels which are among the highest in the world. The worsening of the economic situation, the recent increase in movements of the population and the arrival of new refugees from the Horn of Africa have complicated the situation still further. The commissioner's humanitarian experts will continue to follow closely developments in the situation in the country. (AN/transl.fl)