Saudi Arabia’s KSRelief to provide $200m in UN Yemen aid deals

RIYADH: The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSRelief) has signed deals to provide more than $200m of assistance to Yemen with United Nations aid agencies.

The deals signed were with the World Food Programme (WFP), the World Health Organization, and the UN Higher Commissioner for Refugees.

The step comes within the humanitarian response plan for Yemen, and according to what the Kingdom pledged at the Yemen donors conference held virtually in Riyadh.

The deals include a $138 million donation from Saudi Arabia that will be used to provide food assistance for nearly 8.9 million people in Yemen as part of the humanitarian response to the crisis-hit country.

This will include the distribution of 81,963 metric tons of wheat flour, vegetable oils, legumes, salt and nutritional, preventive and curative supplements, fortified wheat and soy mixture, date biscuit and high-energy biscuit bars.

The second agreement worth $46 million in aid includes developing health and environmental sanitation projects, as well as combating the coronavirus pandemic, and projects to combat malnutrition in Yemen.

This agreement includes supporting 25 central hospitals in all Yemeni governorates.

The third agreement includes a $20 million donation to support two projects. The first will shelter refugees and provide non-food assistance to the most vulnerable families and returnees to Yemen.

The second project is to support the health response to the refugees and those internally displaced during the coronavirus pandemic.