ANSD : U.N. needs $350 million for Yemen crisis, calling it ‘peanuts’

FRI 22 - 11 - 2024

Date: Mar 26, 2018
Source: The Daily Star

U.N. needs $350 million for Yemen crisis, calling it ‘peanuts’

AMMAN: The U.N. urgently needs $350 million for humanitarian projects in Yemen, a senior official said Sunday, insisting it was mere “peanuts” compared with the cost of the country’s war.

Geert Cappelaere, Middle East and North Africa director at the U.N. Children’s Fund UNICEF, made the comments in Amman, Jordan, after a visit to Yemen.

“UNICEF is asking for 2018 alone for its humanitarian program close to $350 million. That is peanuts compared to the billions of dollars that are currently invested in fighting war,” Cappelaere said.

“We are asking for peanuts,” he told reporters. Cappelaere appeared to be making a jibe at U.S. President Donald Trump.

On Tuesday Trump hosted Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman at the White House and told his guest the kingdom would be spending “peanuts” to purchase billions of dollars worth of military equipment, including aircraft, from the United States.

At the meeting Trump held up a cardboard with pictures of the items and topped with the words “12.5 billion in finalized sales to Saudi Arabia,” telling a smiling Salman “that’s peanuts to you.”

The Trump administration told Congress last week that it plans to approve an arms sale to Saudi Arabia valued at more than $1 billion. The State Department said the package includes up to about 6,700 U.S.-made anti-tank missiles, along with servicing, maintenance and parts for helicopters and tanks already in the kingdom’s arsenal.

The fighting pits Iran-backed Houthi rebels against Yemen’s internationally recognized government, which is allied with the Arab-led military coalition. The war started in March 2015 when the coalition began pounding the Houthis with airstrikes after they took control of the capital, Sanaa.

The stalemated war has damaged Yemen’s infrastructure, crippled its health system and pushed it to the brink of famine. The country now suffers the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with more than 22.2 million people in need of assistance. Malnutrition, cholera and other diseases have killed or sickened thousands of civilians over the years.

More than 10,000 people have been killed and tens of thousands wounded since the coalition intervened in March 2015.

Cappelaere gave a dire report on conditions in Yemen, and called for the “brutal senseless war on children to stop now.”

He said children are bearing the brunt of the conflict in many ways.

“Five children were killed every single day in Yemen in 2017,” he said, while “every single girl or boy in Yemen is facing acute humanitarian needs.” In addition, an estimated 80 percent of all Yemenis are living in poverty, Cappelaere said.

“I was shocked last week in Sanaa by the hundreds ... thousands of children who are begging in the streets,” he said.

“It is incredibly heartbreaking to see very small children stretching out their hands” for some food or money, he added.

The UNICEF regional head said “none of the parties, or those who have influence over the fighting parties, have for a single second ... shown the slightest respect for the protection of children.” He also called for the flow of humanitarian aid into Yemen to be unimpeded.

“We are losing precious time discussing conditions that are imposed from all sides, conditions that are preventing us from delivering humanitarian assistance,” he said.

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