UN aid chief in Yemen warns of cholera rise without more aid

Amman, May 30 (AP) A senior United Nations official says treatable diseases like cholera could ravage Yemen this year without an increase in aid and an end to the two-year-old civil war.

Jamie McGoldrick, the UN humanitarian chief in Yemen, told The Associated Press today that poverty and disease are visibly spreading amid the havoc of war.

McGoldrick spoke in the Jordanian capital of Amman after a recent trip to Yemen. He says that people in Yemen are "dying unnecessary, preventable deaths in quiet corners of villages."

He says the UN's USD 2 billion Yemen aid programme for 2017 is less than 20 per cent funded. He says the runaway poverty and continued fighting ensures the worse is yet to come.

United Nations, May 30 (AP) The UN humanitarian chief is warning that conflict is causing Yemen to spiral downward toward "a total social, economic, and institutional collapse," with nearly seven million people "one step away from famine" and a deadly new outbreak of cholera.

Stephen O'Brien told the UN Security Council Tuesday that "Yemen now has the ignominy of being the world's largest food security crisis," with over 17 million people in need of food. He said "urgent action is required to stem the suffering."

But the UN envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, said even serious negotiations on first steps to a cessation of hostilities have been slow.

He urged the Security Council to tell the parties to immediately engage with the UN on steps to end the bloodshed.

Disclaimer :- This story has not been edited by Outlook staff and is auto-generated from news agency feeds. Source: PTI