In Brief: Plight of Yemeni IDPs neglected - UN official

Photo: Adel Yayha/IRIN

Ahmad al-Asa with his children in al-Khaiwan School, used as a camp for IDPs in Amran Province

DUBAI, 17 September 2009 (IRIN) - The director of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in New York, Rashid Khalikov, has described the situation in northern Yemen as a neglected humanitarian emergency, and urged the international community to bolster its support.

"Despite the deep vulnerability of the tens of thousands people who have fled from conflict in northern Yemen, this humanitarian emergency has been largely neglected by the entire international community outside of Yemen, and also by the media," Khalikov said in a statement on 16 September.

A $27.5 million flash appeal for Yemen on 2 September had received zero funding by 17 September, according to OCHA’s Financial Tracking Service.

UN World Food Programme Executive Director Josette Sheeran said food aid had begun to be distributed in Saada town on 14 September “despite all odds and extremely tense security conditions”.

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