EU stumps up $125 m for Yemen after aid groups' plea

BRUSSELS, Belgium — The EU on Tuesday announced $125 million for NGOs and UN agencies helping people in Yemen, a day after aid groups appealed for billions to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in the country.

The money is directed at the "most vulnerable in Yemen", the European Commission said after a Brussels meeting bringing together donors, UN officials and non-governmental organisations.

On Monday, nearly 200 aid groups appealed for funds to bridge a $2.3 billion shortfall in assistance for Yemen, where more than half the 34 million population needs help after nine years of war.

The EU commitment was part of a broader pledge agreed Tuesday in Brussels, yet to be made public.

But the Norwegian Refugee Council, which co-signed this week's aid appeal, said the total fell far short, sending "a bad signal that one of the worst humanitarian crises remains neglected".

"Today marks a missed opportunity for the international community to take meaningful steps towards pulling Yemenis back from the brink of severe hunger and widespread disease," said Samah Hadid, the group's head of advocacy for the Middle East and North Africa.

"NRC urges the international community to step up," she said.

Yemen has been gripped by conflict since the Iran-backed Houthis overran the capital Sanaa in 2014, triggering the Saudi-led military intervention in support of the government the following year.

Hundreds of thousands have died in the fighting or from indirect causes such as a lack of food, according to the United Nations.

Hostilities slowed considerably in April 2022, when a six-month UN-brokered ceasefire came into effect, and they have remained at a low level since.

Only $435 million of the $2.7 billion called for in Yemen’s 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan requirement had been raised until now, aid groups said, warning of threats including food insecurity, cholera and unexploded ordnance.

Brussels stressed the EU contribution would be “channelled exclusively through the EU’s humanitarian partners, including UN agencies and NGOs actively involved in the response”.

The EU commissioner for crisis management, Janez Lenarcic, who chaired Tuesday’s aid meeting, said: “It is our duty to provide life-saving assistance to those in need and ensure more sustained support from the humanitarian and development communities.”