Hunger Crisis In Yemen Escalates

By Ahmad Shihadah
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

SA’NA, Yemen – The UN World Food Program (WFP), facing huge budget shortfalls, is being forced to reduce rations for over 250,000 Yemenis who have been displaced by the conflict in the northern part of the country.

On 28 April the Government of Yemen – represented by H.E. Minister Ahmed Al-Kohlani, Minister of Parliament Affairs and Head of Executive Unit for IDPs – and the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) – represented by Gian Carlo Cirri, Country Director –will be holding a press conference. The aim is to appeal for urgent support to allow WFP and key partners including Islamic Relief Yemen – represented by Khalid Almulad, Country Director – to maintain life-saving monthly food support to more than 250,000 persons displaced by the Sa’ada conflict. These families are entirely dependent on food assistance for survival.

WFP has received less than 30% of the funding it requires in order to maintain vital food and nutrition activities to displaced families and can no longer maintain its assistance. In order to make the increasingly limited quantities of food last longer, WFP will be required to reduce rations to 50% of the planned May basket. This means that rather than receiving 2,100 kcal per person per day – which is the minimum amount of food required for a healthy life – families will receive only some 1,050 kcal per person per day. Before September, WFP will have to suspend activities entirely, including nutrition support to 50,000 children under 5 years of age.

The WFP said it needs more than 77 million dollars to overcome the shortfall in its 2010 funding and continue operations in Yemen.

In order to make the increasingly limited quantities of food last longer in the meantime, the WFP said it would reduce rations to 50 per cent of the planned May basket. These ration cuts “will lead to a humanitarian catastrophe,” the UN agency predicted.

A WFP document obtained yesterday reads, “Reducing rations is not the solution, but rather a last resort.  We have serious concerns about the impact that ration reductions will have on the nutrition and health status of families as they rely entirely on this assistance for survival.  At this point we have no other option but to reduce rations in order to make the limited food quantities we have last longer until we get additional support…”

The dire funding situation is not limited to the IDP operation alone. Overall in 2010 WFP is facing a shortfall of 75% of its requirements, meaning that more than US$ 77 million are required or the agency will be forced to suspend operations in Yemen. As a result, more than 3.4 million persons overall will not receive the food and nutrition support they require, including malnourished mothers and children, families who are unable to meet their food needs, school girls, Somali refugees, and IDPs.

For more information, please see:

NewsFlash – Hunger Crisis Escalates In Yemen, U.S. Needs To Show Leadership – 28 April 2010

Examiner – World Food Programme Appeals For Support To Stop Hunger Crisis In Yemen – 28 April 2010

Earth Time – UN Warns Of Humanitarian ‘Catastrophe’ In Yemen Amid Funds Shortage – 28 April 2010

Iranian Opposition Calls for Protest on Election Anniversary

By Bobby Rajabi

Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

TEHRAN, Iran – On April 27, Iran’s main opposition leaders called for protests to take place on the anniversary of the disputed June 12, 2009 presidential election. Opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi came to the decision after a April 27 meeting, according to Karroubi’s website. The Sahamnews website reported that the leaders “insisted on staging a demonstration on June 12…and called on all reformist groups, organisations and parties to send their requests for this to the interior ministry.”

The meeting between Karroubi and Mousavi was called to discuss the current situation in the Islamic Republic with respect to government activity. The two opposition leaders came to the conclusion that “the government’s performance was negative in all fields –political and economic.” The two also spoke of their opposition to the government’s imprisonment of reformists and corruption by the Iranian vice president. Mousavi said that “these acts are anti-Islamic, I truly don’t understand how they will answer to God.”

As a result of this assessment, the two men called for “the pubic’s participation in peaceful demonstrations on the anniversary of the presidential election.” The two urged opposition groups and political parties to send requests asking for permission to march on the anniversary to the Islamic Republic’s Interior ministry. The Interior Ministry has repeatedly denied such requests in the past.

The election marked the re-election of incumbent Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who defeated both Mousavi and Karroubi. Immediately after the election came claims of voter fraud and accusations of vote-rigging. What followed were protests in streets of the Islamic Republic’s major cities. Security forces cracked down on protesters. Dozens of protesters were killed and hundreds were rounded up and arrested. Those who were put on trial, including journalists and human rights advocates, received stiff sentences for their involvement.

The last major protest against the Islamic Republic’s government came in December where eight protesters were killed. Hard line government authorities have branded those involved in the protest movement as being involved with a sedition perpetrated by Iran’s enemies. These enemies allegedly include the United States and the United Kingdom.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Iran’s Opposition Plan Protests on Poll Anniversary – 27 April 2010

New York Times – Iran: Opposition Calls for Protests – 27 April 2010

Voice of America – Iran Opposition Leaders Call for Election Anniversary Rallies – 27 April 2010

Washington Post – Iran Opposition Urges Vote Anniversary Rally: Website – 27 April 2010