Saudi Arabia pledged $150 million at a Yemen aid summit here on Tuesday. The Kingdom's delegation to the summit was headed by Adviser at the Royal Court and General Supervisor of King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Aid Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabiah. The UN is seeking $2.1 billion for Yemen this year as it has received only 15 percent toward that appeal. Nearly 19 million people or two-thirds of the population need emergency aid, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said as he opened the donor conference. "We are witnessing the starving and the crippling of an entire generation. We must act now to save lives," he added. "All infrastructure must remain open and operational." Besides Saudi Arabia, other pledges announced at the conference included $100 million from Kuwait, 50 million euros ($54.39 million) from Germany and $94 million from the United States. The World Food Program (WFP) has committed $1 billion to Yemen and reached a record 5 million people last month with rations but needs to scale up deliveries to reach 9 million who are deemed "severely food insecure," its regional director Muhannad Hadi said in an interview. They include some 3 million malnourished children. Some 17 million of Yemen's 26 million people lack sufficient food and at least three million malnourished children are in "grave peril," Stephen O›Brien, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator said. "This is rapidly becoming the world's worst humanitarian disaster," he said. The United Nations' humanitarian aid coordination agency, OCHA, says some 18.8 million people need humanitarian or protection assistance in Yemen. "Without further action from parties to the conflict and the international community, Yemen is at a serious risk of plunging into famine — with even more children›s lives hanging in the balance," said Geert Cappelaere, UNICEF›s director for Mideast and North Africa. Since 2015, about 3.3 million people have been forced to flee their homes, though nearly 1.3 million of the displaced have returned to their home regions, according to the UN's International Organization for Migration. The IOM is seeking $76.3 million in the overall relief appeal. IOM said Tuesday that it has the highest coverage of any UN organization in Yemen, with more than 600 staffers involved in operations in 20 of the country›s 22 governorates. — Agencies
