Millions facing starvation in Yemen, UN food agency warns

Malnourished girl Rahmah Watheeq, receives treatment at a feeding centre at Al-Sabeen hospital in Sanaa, Yemen (Hani Mohammed/AP)

The head of the UN food agency is warning that 16 million people in Yemen “are marching towards starvation” and says food rations for millions in the war-torn nation will be cut in October unless new funding arrives.

David Beasley said at a high-level meeting on Yemen’s humanitarian crisis that the United States, Germany, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and other donors stepped up when the World Food Programme was running out of money earlier this year and “because of that we averted famine and catastrophe”.