Nov 8, 2017

Yemen is facing a mass famine that will affect millions of lives unless the Saudi-led coalition ends its blockade and allows aid deliveries into the country, the UN aid chief warned Wednesday.

Mark Lowcock, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said that unless the borders are re-opened to aid shipments, "it will be the largest famine the world has seen for many decades, with millions of victims."

The UN official spoke to reporters after briefing the Security Council during a closed-door session on the crisis in Yemen,

where the coalition has been waging a military campaign against Huthi rebels since March 2015.

Lowcock told the council that UN humanitarian flights must be allowed to resume to the rebel-held capital Sana and to the government-controlled city of Aden.