Saudi\, UAE offer USD 200 mn in Ramadan aid to Yemen

Saudi, UAE offer USD 200 mn in Ramadan aid to Yemen

AFP  |  Riyadh 

and the UAE, which lead a military coalition against the Huthi rebels in Yemen, offered Monday $200 million in aid to the country for the holy fasting month of

The aid will be split between various UN agencies, including the World Food Programme, the children's agency and the World Health Organization, officials in both said.

"and are keen to implement an urgent program with strategic partners -- particularly WFP, and WHO -- to mitigate the situation of .. in and help to avert famine and the associated with famine," the and said in a statement.

and the UAE intervened in the war in 2015 to bolster Yemeni after the Huthis took over the capital

Over the past four years, the coalition -- facing global pressure over what the UN calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis in -- has contributed $18 billion in aid to the war-torn country, the statement added.

Both the military coalition backing the government and the Huthi rebels stand accused of acts that could amount to war crimes.

The WHO estimates nearly 10,000 Yemenis have been killed since 2015, when Saudi Arabia and its allies intervened to prevent the defeat of the government in the face of a rebel offensive.

Human rights groups say the real death toll is several times higher.

The conflict has pushed millions of Yemenis to the brink of mass starvation, in what the UN has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Mon, April 08 2019. 19:45 IST