UN: World faces worst humanitarian crisis since WWII

The world body’s humanitarian chief Stephen O’Brien called Friday for an urgent mobilisation of funds – $4.4bn by July – for northeastern Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen to “avert a catastrophe.” “Otherwise, many people will predictably die from hunger, livelihoods will be lost and political gains that have been hardwon over the last few years will be reversed,” O’Brien said in his stark warning to the UN Security Council. He called war-wracked Yemen “the largest humanitarian crisis in the world,” with two thirds of the population, or 18.8m people – three million more than in January – in need of assistance and more than seven million with no regular access to food. The conflict in Yemen has left more than 7,400 people dead and 40,000 wounded since an Arab-state coalition intervened on the government’s side against rebels in March 2015, according to UN figures. In just the past two months alone, more than 48,000 people have fled fighting in the Arab world’s poorest country, according to O’Brien, as it grapples with a proxy war fought by archrivals Iran and Saudi Arabia.Arbitrarily denying’ accessDuring recent meetings, O’Brien said senior leaders in both parties agreed to provide continuous humanitarian access and respect international humanitarian law. He noted that 4.9m people received food assistance last month alone. A total of $2.1bn are needed to reach 12m people with life-saving assistance and protection in Yemen this year, according to O’Brien, who noted that just six percent of those funds have been received so far. He announced that a ministerial-level pledging event for Yemen will take place in Geneva on April 25, to be chaired by UN chief Antonio Guterres.Politics behind ‘man-made famine’During his visit last week to South Sudan, the world’s youngest nation, O’Brien said he found a situation that is “worse than it has ever been.” “The famine in South Sudan is man-made,” he added. He said more than 7.5m people need assistance, an increase of 1.4m fro last year. And some 3.4m people are displaced, including nearly 200,000 who have fled South Sudan since January alone.