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Yemen war dead could hit 233,000 by 2020 in what UN calls ‘humanity’s greatest preventable disaster’
Nearly a quarter of a million people will have died in the conflict in Yemen if fighting continues
Bel Trew
Middle East Correspondent
@beltrew
Tuesday 30 April 2019 17:52
Houthi security officers carry a coffin during a funeral of people killed by a March air strike
Houthi security officers carry a coffin during a funeral of people killed by a March air strike(Reuters)
The death toll from a devastating war in Yemen could soar to nearly a quarter of a million by the end of 2019, the United Nations (UN) has warned, calling the conflict one of the “greatest preventable disasters facing humanity”.
In a 60-page report, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) said the fighting between the Gulf-backed Yemen government and the Houthi rebels could also set the country back a generation in terms of development.
It warned that if a proper ceasefire is not brokered by the end of the year, the total number of dead could rise to 233,000, with 60 per cent of the deceased being children under the age of five.
The UN’s projected count includes 102,000 killed in combat and 131,000 who will die due to a lack of food, health services and infrastructure in the war.
It represents a significant increase on the latest death toll, compiled by global mapping group the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (Acled), which said last week 70,000 people have died in the war since 2016.
Food aid for Yemenis stolen
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People walk in a shelter for displaced persons in Ibb, Yemen, in this 3 Aug 2018 photo.
People stand near their rooms inside a shelter for displaced persons in Ibb, Yemen, in this 3 Aug 2018 photo.
A baby sleeps inside a shelter for displaced persons in Ibb, Yemen, in this 3 Aug 2018 photo.
A woman sits with her baby inside a shelter for displaced persons in Ibb, Yemen, in this 3 Aug 2018 photo.
British parliamentarians, meanwhile, urged the UK to halt weapons sales to a Saudi-led coalition fighting in the country, fearing it was contributing to the humanitarian crisis and numbers of deaths.
“The current conflict in Yemen is one of the greatest preventable disasters facing humanity,” the damning UNDP report said.
“If that war continues it will continue to disproportionately kill children, mostly due to a lack of access to food, health services and infrastructure. It is already placed among some of the worst conflicts since the end of the Cold War.”
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Yemen has been ripped apart by a devastating conflict since the Iran-backed Houthis took control of the country in late 2014, ousting recognised President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi.
Saudi Arabia and its Gulf partners, including the UAE, launched a bombing campaign in March 2015 to reinstate their ally Hadi.
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Hundreds killed and injured by Houthi landmines in Yemen
Hundreds killed and injured by Houthi landmines in Yemen
Four years on there is little hope to an end to the fighting, which has sparked what the UN has previously termed the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Over 24 million people, or 80 per cent of the country, now rely on humanitarian aid, and more than 13 million are at risk of starvation, according to the UN.
Peace negotiations are currently centred on a tense UN-brokered truce in the port city of Hodeidah, which is the main entry point for humanitarian aid and commercial imports.
The UN is trying to get both sides to pull troops out of the flashpoint city but the process has stalled, with both sides blaming each other for lack of progress. Fighting still rages in the southwestern province of Taiz.
UK foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt hosted Saudi and UAE ministers in London last week in a last-ditch attempt to hammer out peace terms.
Ahead of the meeting he had highlighted the plight of children in Yemen, saying on Twitter that more than 100 children die a day from extreme hunger.
The Saudi-led coalition’s warplanes have targeted an area south of Yemen's Ma'rib province, killing four civilians and wounding four others. https://urmedium.com/c/presstv/35220
