Is Ukraine Focus Killing Starving People in Yemen?

Is the rush to send humanitarian aid to Ukraine killing starving people in Yemen? A donors conference that met on March 16 fell well short of the UN appeal for food aid to Yemen. Donors pledged only $1.7 billion of the $4.2 billion goal. “Clearly, pressing concerns over events in the Ukraine cast a shadow on (the pledging) event,” Abeer Etefa, a World Food Programme spokesperson for the Middle East and North Africa region, told AFP. “The $1.3 billion committed at the pledging conference out of just over $4 billion requested was a disappointment,” Etefa said. “We’d hoped for more, particularly from donors in the region who have yet to step up and commit funds for a crisis in their backyard. If we act now, we can avert what could be a point of no return and we can save millions.”