EU allocates additional $100 million for Yemen crisis

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA

The European Commission on Tuesday allocated an additional €90 million ($100 million) in humanitarian aid for civilians in Yemen as the country plunges into the world's worst hunger crisis.

"The new funding brings total EU humanitarian assistance in Yemen in 2018 to €118 million and will be channelled exclusively through humanitarian organizations," the commission said in a statement.

Christos Stylianides, commissioner for humanitarian aid and crisis management, said some 8 million vulnerable people will benefit from EU's additional funding, that will be directed at covering -- among others -- nutritional, health, sanitation and protection needs.

"We are in a race against time to avoid a famine in Yemen. That is why the EU is stepping up its life-saving humanitarian assistance to the Yemeni people," Stylianides was quoted as saying in the statement.

Impoverished Yemen has remained wracked by violence since 2014, when Shia Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including capital Sanaa.

The conflict escalated in 2015 when Saudi Arabia and its Sunni-Arab allies launched a devastating air campaign in Yemen aimed at rolling back Houthi gains.

The ongoing violence has destroyed much of Yemen’s infrastructure, including water and sanitation systems, prompting the UN to describe the situation as one of “the worst humanitarian disasters of modern times”.