Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

WFP Offers Food Aid to More than 6 Million Yemenis Every 2 Months | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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An internally displaced girl waits with her father (not pictured) for her turn to receive food at a school in Sana’a May 17, 2015. REUTERS/Mohamed al-Sayaghi


Riyadh – The World Food Program (WFP) said it was delivering food aid every two months to more than 6 million Yemenis in more than 19 governorates, in cooperation with King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Aids (KSRELIEF).

Ashraf Hamouda, WFP Head of Partnerships and Business Development in the MENA region, told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that the partnership between KSRELIEF and the WFP has had a strong and positive impact on the ground.

“We are currently covering more than 19 Yemeni governorates and food aid is delivered to more than 6 million Yemenis every two months,” the WFP official said.

Hamouda stressed that KSRELIEF did not exert any pressure and did not interfere with the aid delivery process.

“The Center asks us to deliver aid according to our perception of the most stricken areas in Yemen, whether in the south or in the north of the country, without any distinction,” he stated.

Hamouda added that the WFP was currently implementing the final phase of an agreement signed with KSRELIEF in 2015, with a value of $31 million and 700 thousand, noting that the full execution of the program would be completed by June 2017.

He also said that an agreement would be signed today (Friday) in Rome between KSRELIEF and WFP with a value of $10 million, which will be fully dedicated to provide urgent aid to the besieged governorate of Al-Hudaydah, where residents were suffering from food deprivation and severe hunger.

Asked about the major obstacles facing the international program in Yemen, Hamouda said those difficulties include the dangers encountered by WFP staff in war zones.

“Sometimes, we are unable to access specific areas; we try to communicate with the different parties; and although everyone knows that we are neutral, some of our aid units are denied access,” the WFP official said.