In its latest report on Yemen, IRIN the award winning humanitarian news and analysis service raised the alarm, warning that the country was on the verge of disaster, stressing that the lack of security and the numerous conflict zones had made almost impossible for aid workers to carry on with their missions.
With Yemen caught in between a Shi'ite rebellion on its northern province of Sa'ada, a secessionist movement in what used to be South Yemen and a pro-democracy uprising demanding the ousting of president Saleh, civilian populations nationwide have had to endure much hardship.
IRIN now reports that what used to be a chronic malnutrition has now turned "into acute crisis" with the compounding of a fuel crisis, high unemployment, inflation and food shortages.
But most troubling of all, the organization warning that a lack in funding and increasing logistic difficulties are making humanitarian agencies' work that much more difficult, hindering their efforts and their ability to provide assistance.
“We have here in Yemen many concurrent humanitarian situations to deal with,” said Geert Cappelaere, representative of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Yemen. “Each and every one of these humanitarian situations is very often of an unprecedented complexity for us as the international humanitarian community.”
IRIN announced that many of its main donors had decided to back down from their initial commitment towards Yemen in favor of other countries such as Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. "While donors have pledged billions of dollars to help Tunisia, Egypt and Libya rebuild their economies and meet humanitarian needs, the plight of people living in the poorest country in the region is being forgotten by the international community,” Oxfam International said in a 19 September report about widespread hunger and chronic malnutrition in Yemen.