DUBAI: More than four million Yemenis will receive less food assistance as a result of funding shortages, compounding one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, the UN’s food agency warned Friday.
The World Food Programme said “a deeper funding crisis for its Yemen operations from the end of September onward... will force WFP to make difficult decisions about further cuts to our food assistance programs across the country in the coming months.”
Without new funding, it expects more than four million people will receive less food assistance, many of them women and children already suffering from some of the highest malnutrition rates in the world.
With major cuts announced across different programs, the actual number of people affected could be higher.
“We are confronted with the incredibly tough reality of making decisions to take food from the hungry to feed the starving,” said Richard Ragan, WFP’s Yemen representative.
The UN agency was “fully cognizant of the suffering these cuts will cause,” he said in a statement.
Yemen, the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country, is already in the grips of one of the planet’s worst humanitarian crises after eight years of war, according to the United Nations.
The conflict broke out in 2014 when Iran-backed Houthi rebels seized the capital Sanaa, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene the following year to prop up the internationally recognized government.
Although fighting has remained largely on hold since a six-month truce expired in October, the United Nations says current hunger levels are unprecedented.
Seventeen million Yemenis are experiencing food insecurity, and one million women and 2.2 million children under five require treatment for acute malnutrition, the UN says.
For the next six months, WFP said it requires $1.05 billion in funding, only 28 percent of which has been secured.
“Yemen will remain one of WFP’s largest food assistance operations, but these cuts represent a significant reduction to the agency’s programs in the country,” it said.
“The funding shortages are happening at a time of more people becoming severely malnourished.”
The World Food Programme was forced to slash food aid for 13 million Yemenis by more than 50 percent in June last year because of a funding squeeze.
UN says forced to cut Yemen rations, compounding food crisis
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UN says forced to cut Yemen rations, compounding food crisis
- Without new funding, World Food Programme expects more than four million people will receive less food assistance
UN: At least 542 killed in North Darfur in past three weeks
- The war has left tens of thousands dead and triggered what aid agencies describe as the world’s largest displacement and hunger crises
“The horror unfolding in Sudan knows no bounds,” UN rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement, referring to the country’s ongoing civil war.
Darfur in particular has become a key battleground in the war that erupted on April 15, 2023 between the regular army, led by Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), headed by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
The war has left tens of thousands dead and triggered what aid agencies describe as the world’s largest displacement and hunger crises.
The battle for El-Fasher, the last major city in Darfur to elude RSF control, has intensified in recent weeks as the paramilitaries have sought to compensate for their loss of the capital Khartoum last month.
Turk pointed to an attack three days ago by the RSF on El-Fasher and the Abu Shouk camp that killed at least 40 civilians.
“This brings the confirmed number of civilians killed in North Darfur to at least 542 in just the last three weeks,” he said.
“The actual death toll is likely much higher.”
He also cited “the ominous warning by the RSF of ‘bloodshed’ ahead of imminent battles with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and their associated armed movements.”
“Everything must be done to protect civilians trapped amid dire conditions in and around El-Fasher.”
Turk also highlighted “reports of extrajudicial executions in Khartoum state,” which he described as “extremely disturbing.”
“Horrific videos circulating on social media show at least 30 men in civilian clothing being rounded up and executed by armed men in RSF uniforms in Al-Salha in southern Omdurman,” he said, adding that in a subsequent video, “an RSF field commander acknowledged the killings.”
Those videos came after “shocking reports in recent weeks of the extrajudicial execution of dozens of people accused of collaborating with the RSF in southern Khartoum, allegedly committed by the Al-Baraa Brigade,” a pro-SAF militia, Turk said.
“Deliberately taking the life of a civilian or anyone no longer directly taking part in hostilities is a war crime,” he insisted.
The UN rights chief said he had “personally alerted both leaders of the RSF and SAF to the catastrophic human rights consequences of this war.”
“These harrowing consequences are a daily, lived reality for millions of Sudanese. It is well past time for this conflict to stop.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin receives UAE’s interior minister to discuss bilateral cooperation
- 2 sides discuss joint initiatives in fields of security, policing
DUBAI: Russian President Vladimir Putin received Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the UAE’s deputy prime minister and minister of interior, during an official meeting, the Emirates News Agency reported on Thursday.
The two sides discussed bilateral ties, highlighting their shared commitment to promoting peace and global cooperation.
They also looked at joint initiatives in the fields of security and policing, including progress on strategic police dialogue, training programs in child protection, and other collaborative efforts.
The meeting was also attended by Dr. Mohammed Ahmed Al-Jaber, the UAE’s ambassador to the Russian Federation.
Israel firefighters battle blaze near Jerusalem as roads reopen
- The fires broke out on Wednesday along the main Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had warned the flames could reach Jerusalem
JERUSALEM: Israeli firefighting teams battled bushfires that threatened Jerusalem for a second day on Thursday, with police reporting the reopening of several major roads that had been closed.
The fires broke out on Wednesday along the main Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway, prompting police to shut roads and evacuate thousands of residents from nearby communities.
Israel’s firefighting service said 163 ground crews and 12 aircraft were working to contain the blaze, which authorities said was the country’s largest in a decade.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had warned the flames could reach Jerusalem, declaring the situation a “national emergency.”
Crews worked through the night, allowing the reopening of main roads, including the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv route, according to police.
“All routes have been reopened to traffic,” they said in a statement, adding residents of the Mavo Horon settlement had been allowed to return.
AFP footage on Thursday showed firefighters dousing scorched fields near a church and a stand of charred tree trunks.
Several ceremonies scheduled for Wednesday — the eve of Israel’s Independence Day — were canceled due to the fires, but events to mark the occasion were still being held on Thursday.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir hinted that arson may be behind the fires, though authorities have not presented any evidence to support such claims.
While wildfires are not unheard of in Israel this time of year in the past, they are not considered a regular occurrence.
Rescue agency Magen David Adom said it treated 23 people on Wednesday, mostly for smoke inhalation and burns.
Seventeen firefighters were injured, according to public broadcaster Kansas
The Israeli military said its personnel were helping in Jerusalem and other central districts.
“Overnight dozens of engineering vehicles started operating throughout the country to form lines to prevent the fire from spreading into other trees,” said a military statement.
“The IAF (air force) continues assisting in the effort to extinguish the fires,” it said, adding that about 50 firetrucks were dispatched to where the blaze had spread.
Fanned by strong winds, the fires spread rapidly through wooded areas on Wednesday, prompting evacuations from at least five communities, police said.
“It’s just very sad because we knew the weather, we kind of knew that would happen, and still we feel like they weren’t ready enough with the big planes that can drop large amounts of water,” evacuee Yuval Aharoni, 40, said on Wednesday.
“A lot of police arrived, a lot of firefighters, but it didn’t really help. The fire had already completely taken over the whole area here,” student Yosef Aaron said from the side of a highway, flames visible in the distance.
Late Wednesday, the foreign ministry said firefighting aircraft were expected to arrive from Croatia, France, Italy, Romania and Spain to join the operation.
Cyprus and Serbia also announced they were sending firefighting helicopters to Israel.
Syria’s Druze take up arms to defend their town against Islamists
- Seven Druze fighters were among the 17 people killed in the Damascus suburb as clashes raged from Monday into Tuesday
JARAMANA, Syria: Syrian estate agent Fahd Haidar shuttered his business and got out his rifle to defend his hometown of Jaramana when it came under attack this week by Islamists loyal to the new government.
Seven Druze fighters were among the 17 people killed in the Damascus suburb as clashes raged from Monday into Tuesday.
On Wednesday, the sectarian violence spread to the nearby town of Sahnaya, where 22 combatants were killed, a war monitor said.
Fourteen years after former ruler Bashar Assad’s bloody suppression of pro-democracy protests triggered a devastating civil war, Haidar said he feared a return to “chaos,” a slide into a “quagmire of grievances that will affect every Syrian.”
He appealed to the new authorities, who took over after Assad’s ouster in December, to step back from the brink and find “radical solutions” to rein in “uncontrolled gangs” like those who attacked his mainly Druze and Christian hometown this week.
In Jaramana, Druze leaders reached a deal with government representatives on Tuesday evening to put a halt to the fighting.
On Wednesday morning, an AFP correspondent saw hundreds of armed Druze, some of them just boys, deployed across the town.
Behind mounds of earth piled up as improvised defenses, Druze fighters handed out weapons and ammunition.
“For the past two days, the people of Jaramana have been on a war footing,” said local activist Rabii Mondher.
“Everybody is scared – of war... of coming under siege, of a new assault and new martyrs.”
Like many residents in the confessionally mixed town, Mondher said he hoped “peace will be restored... because we have no choice but to live together.”
Mounir Baaker lost his nephew Riadh in this week’s clashes.
“We don’t take an eye for an eye,” he said tearfully, as he received the condolences of friends and neighbors.
“Jaramana is not used to this,” he went on, holding up a photograph of his slain nephew, who was among a number of young Druze men from the town who signed up to join the new security forces after Assad’s ouster.
“We’re brought up to be tolerant, not to strike back and not to attack anyone, whoever they are,” he said. “But we defend ourselves if we are attacked.”
Jordan jails 4 for 20 years in case linked to Muslim Brotherhood
- On Wednesday, Jordan’s state security court said that it had sentenced four of the 16 defendants to 20-year jail terms and unspecified fines
AMMAN: A Jordanian court sentenced four people to 20 years in prison on Wednesday over plans to “target national security,” in a case linked to the recently outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
Earlier in April, the kingdom’s intelligence service announced it had arrested 16 suspects and “foiled plans aimed at targeting national security, sowing chaos and sabotaging within Jordan.”
Jordan then announced last week that it was banning the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood, a transnational Islamist movement, accusing it of manufacturing and stockpiling weapons and planning to destabilize the kingdom.
On Wednesday, Jordan’s state security court said in a statement that it had sentenced four of the 16 defendants to 20-year jail terms and unspecified fines.
The four were convicted of “possession of explosives, weapons and ammunition with the intent to use them illegally and commit acts that would disrupt public order and threaten social safety and security, in violation of the provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Law,” it said.
The statement did not specify whether they were members of the Muslim Brotherhood, but state television had previously broadcast what it described as confessions from three of the 16 suspects admitting they were members of the Islamist group.
The Brotherhood later issued a statement distancing itself from the individuals and saying they acted on their own motives.
Interior Minister Mazen Al-Faraya announced on April 23 that the government had decided to “ban all activities of the so-called Muslim Brotherhood and to consider any activity (carried out by it) a violation of the provisions of the law.”
The Muslim Brotherhood has continued to operate in Jordan despite a ruling by the country’s top court dissolving it in 2020, with authorities turning a blind eye to its activities.
