Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which lead a military coalition against the Iran-backed Houthis (Ansarallah) in Yemen, offered Monday (April 8th) $200 million in aid to the country for the holy fasting month of Ramadan, AFP reported.
The donation, announced simultaneously in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, is part of a $500 million aid package announced by the allies in November to tackle widespread hunger and disease in the war-torn country.
The Ramadan aid will be split between various UN agencies, including the World Food Programme, the children's agency UNICEF and the World Health Organisation, officials in both countries said.
"Saudi Arabia and UAE are keen to implement an urgent programme with strategic partners -- particularly WFP, UNICEF and WHO -- to mitigate the situation of malnutrition... in Yemen and help to avert famine and the epidemic diseases associated with famine," the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre said in a statement.
