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Geneva / WAM
Reem bint Ebrahim Al Hashimy, Minister of State for International Cooperation, said, “We are confirming the UAE’s support, as part of the Arab Coalition, for any efforts to ease the suffering of the Yemeni people, and I am pleased, on my country’s behalf, to announce our support for the UN’s 2018 humanitarian plan for Yemen, with the sum of $500 million.”
She added that the UAE will continue to offer its direct assistance to Yemen’s liberated regions and support rehabilitation projects, by allocating $100 million for health and energy projects in Hadramaut, and through its current work to restore and develop Mocha Port.
Al Hashimy stressed that the UAE supports the efforts of Martin Griffiths, UN Special Envoy for Yemen, to establish security and peace, as it believes that the end of the crisis depends on a political solution that relies on the Gulf Initiative and its mechanisms, as well as the outcomes of national dialogue and the decisions of the Security Council, especially
Decision 2216.
She affirmed that the countries of the Arab Coalition, led by Saudi Arabia, are providing humanitarian assistance without discrimination and facilitating the work of all the humanitarian organisations, by opening border crossings, ports and airports in the liberated Yemeni governorates, as well as those under the control of the Houthi militias, but the militants have prevented the delivery of humanitarian aid in the areas they control.
“The deteriorating humanitarian condition in Yemen requires more than greater humanitarian efforts. It also needs a serious and honest stance and the condemnation of the practices of the Iranian-backed Houthi militias, which have worsened the country’s humanitarian condition. The Houthis are still practicing murder, displacement and starvation, and are planting landmines and recruiting children, and are still besieging many areas such, as Hodeidah and Taiz,” she added.
Al Hashimy further stressed that the humanitarian condition in Yemen is a priority to the UAE, due to its awareness about the dangers to Yemen and its regional and international neighbours.
She pointed out that the UAE has offered, since April 2015, $2.9 billion, in the form of humanitarian and developmental aid and programmes, to return the country to stability and rehabilitate and reconstruct the damage to its key sectors, such as infrastructure, health and housing, while providing operational funding in various Yemeni governorates that target 13 million Yemenis, including five million Yemeni children.
Al Hashimy thanked the UN, represented by Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General, and Mark Lowcock, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, as well as Sweden and Switzerland, for their sponsorship of this important humanitarian event.