World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

"The sound of bullets can be heard almost everywhere around Saada city. We put our lives at risk just to go to the IDP [internally displaced persons] camps," said Saddam al-Abdeni, a supply officer at the Saada-based office of the NGO Islamic Relief.(..) Increasing insecurity in and around Saada Province has forced the World Food Programme (WFP) to reduce its aid to IDPs. In August, it distributed food to only 10,000 IDPs - down from 95,000 in July, due to limited access for its staff.

Yemen said on Thursday it had killed 11 rebels in fighting in the north of the country, while the rebels posted footage on the Internet that appeared to show dozens of captured government troops. (..) The World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday it had managed to distribute food aid to only 10,000 in Hajjah and Saada governorates in August compared to 95,000 people in July due to limited access.

Yemeni Shiite rebels fighting in the north of the troubled Arabian Peninsula country warned of a "long war" on Wednesday after the government rejected a truce offer. (..) The World Food Program (WFP) said on Tuesday it had managed to distribute food aid to only 10,000 in Hajjah and Saada governorates in August compared to 95,000 people in July due to limited access.

The United Nations warned Tuesday of a humanitarian crisis in northern Yemen's Saada city, where 35,000 have fled fierce fighting between the military and Shiite rebels in the past three weeks. (..) Some 100,000 of the displaced are "now on the move desperately seeking sanctuary in safer areas of Saada governorate or in neighbouring governorates," said World Food Programme spokeswoman Emilia Casella.

Some 35,000 people trapped by fierce fighting in the besieged northern Yemeni town of Saada lack food, medical care, water and electricity, United Nations aid agencies said on Tuesday. (..) The U.N.'s World Food Programme (WFP) said that it could only deliver food to some 10,000 displaced people in August -- compared to 95,000 in July.

The unrest in Yemen is a source of concern for the entire region. (..) According to the World Food Programme and the UNHCR, people living in the restive north are practically cut off from the rest of the world, and in dire straits.

The United States of America, through USAID and its Food for Peace program, announced it would offer a contribution of over $2.5 million to the World Food Program in urgent humanitarian aid to the displaced people who fled constant fighting between the army and al-Houthis.

Aid officials warn of the threats of dehydration, malaria and diarrhoea in northern Yemen’s refugee camps as thousands of displaced highlanders escape fighting between rebels and government forces.
Mounting violence between national troops and Houthi guerrillas has forced more than 35,000 tribespeople from their homes across the rugged, mountainous terrain around Sa’ada city in the past two weeks.

Aid organizations are finding it increasingly difficult to help civilians in the northern Yemeni governorate of Saada after renewed clashes there between the army and the al-Houthi Shia rebels.
“Saada is an active, armed confrontation with a very volatile security situation, so the World Food Programme [WFP] has to carefully balance staff security on one side and its mandate to assist affected people [on the other],” Gian Carlo Cirri, WFP’s Yemen representative, told IRIN.

Escalating violence between Yemen's government and Shi'ite Muslim rebels is making it hard to reach tens of thousands of people who have fled clashes in the north, aid agencies said on Tuesday. They appealed for better access to the displaced and warned of a high risk of outbreaks of malaria and diarrhoeal diseases among the already malnourished population.
The U.N. children's agency UNICEF said an estimated 35,000 people had fled the renewed violence over the last two weeks. Some 120,000 had been made homeless by earlier rounds of fighting in an intermittent conflict that began in 2004.