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Yemen's Famine: Not Enough Food - and Plenty of Blame to Go Around

Gabrielle Resnick

   The World Food Program's partial aid suspension in Yemen has increased
   concerns for families.

   Mohammed Qaid worries for his four-day-old boy Nazeh. Qaid has seven
   other children, and little hope that he can feed his family. But this
   family is not the only household feeling the pinch of the recent
   reduction in food aid delivered to Sana'a.

   Qaid is among the thousands of residents in the Yemeni capital, Sana'a,
   a Houthi stronghold, who is dependent on international humanitarian aid
   in the midst of the conflict. The war has ravaged Qaid's life, and his
   family now survives on scraps. "We're now sort of dependent on
   restaurants' leftoverrice," he told VOA.
   "Wepaydishwashers$0.80forcollectingleftoverrice."
   Destitute and hungry, families have resorted to sending their children
   out to collect leftover rice granules. Qaidtells VOA his young sons
   were crying the morning of the interview because he could not afford to
   pay the cost of two eggs, opting instead for tea.

   Normally, Qaid'sfamily would have received a monthly basket from the
   World Food Program consisting of 75 kilograms of wheat, two bottles of
   cooking oil, sugar, and lentils. That stopped when WFP shipments were
   held up due to a standoff between the agency and the Houthi
   authorities. Both sides had disagreed over who would be responsible for
   monitoring the food routing system. U.N. officials now say they have
   the Houthi's agreement to implement a biometric registration system to
   prevent diversion of food aid.

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