FAO, UNICEF and World Food Program Warn of Targeting Hodeidah Port

YemenExtra

M.A.

Three international organizations working in Yemen have confirmed that food security has deteriorated since the recent analysis of the interim classification carried out in June 2016, pointing out that this could be worse if the port of Hodeidah was targeted.

The results of the integrated interim classification warned of food security, as issued by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Food Program (WFP) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The classification was carried out by a competent national team and warned of serious consequences for food security in Yemen in case of damaging the infrastructure of Hodeidah port.

The issued results of the classification of food security revealed that the number of people going through the two phases of emergency and crisis has increased by 20 per cent until March compared to the results of the classification analysis conducted in June 2016.

Twenty of the 22 governorates in Yemen are in the emergency and crisis phases regarding food insecurity, and more than two-thirds of Yemen’s population are at risk of hunger and urgently need assistance to save their lives and maintain their livelihoods.

“About 17 million people, 60 percent of Yemen’s total population, are food insecure”, results of the analysis explained.

It was also expected that commercial and humanitarian food imports to Yemen would be severely affected if the infrastructure of the port of Hodeidah was harmed by further air strikes waged by the Saudi-led coalition or in the event of actual fighting inside the city of Hodeidah.