Ukraine war compounds Yemen's troubles with food and donor attention

ADEN -- Russia's war with Ukraine will bring many in Yemen a step closer to starvation by diverting donor attention away from the country and raising the price of wheat, as imports from the two key suppliers decline, officials said.

As Yemen enters its eighth year of war, it is facing a severe funding shortfall for humanitarian aid, with a March 16 donors' conference raising $1.3 billion out of the nearly $4.3 billion needed this year, according to the United Nations (UN).

Yemen's internationally recognised government had been locked in conflict against the Iran-backed Houthis, who control Sanaa and most of the north.

The war has killed hundreds of thousands directly or indirectly, and triggered what the UN calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with millions on the brink of famine.

And now the Russian war on Ukraine has left the humanitarian crisis in Yemen even more "forgotten" by the world, Deputy Minister of Legal Affairs and Human Rights Nabil Abdul Hafeez told Al-Mashareq.

In an April 5 Twitter post, the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said millions of Yemenis do not have enough food to get through the holy month of Ramadan, and called on donors to help.

According to the UN, the Ukraine war has had an adverse impact on food security in Yemen because of the curtailment of wheat exports.

Food security at risk

"The repercussions of the Russian-Ukrainian war have led to a spike of more than 35% in wheat prices worldwide," Studies and Economic Media Centre Director Mustafa Nasr said.

Russia's war "has cast a shadow over the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, as food prices have doubled because Yemen imports 34% of its wheat needs from Russia and Ukraine", he said.

Additionally, Nasr said, the war has caused oil prices to rise, which in turn raises the transportation costs of imported goods and therefore their price.

This has an enormous impact on Yemen, which imports 95% of its needs.

According to the World Bank, the conflict in Ukraine is tangibly damaging the economies of a number of countries in the region, including Lebanon, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen.

These countries depend mainly on Ukraine and Russia for their food imports, especially wheat and other grains, it said, with fragile countries like Yemen facing a serious risk to their food security as a result of the Ukrainian crisis.

The number of inhabitants suffering from severe food insecurity in Yemen jumped from 15 million to more than 16 million in just three months in late 2021, and the war in Ukraine will inevitably worsen the situation, it said.

Yemen imports a large percentage of the wheat, vegetable oil and some medicines it consumes from Russia and Ukraine, economist Faris al-Najjar said.

The loss of these products in the Yemeni market will force the government and traders to search for alternatives, which may well come at higher costs, generating steeper prices for Yemeni consumers, he said.

Yemen's 'forgotten war'

"We fear that international attention will turn to the war in Ukraine, giving the Houthis an opportunity to take advantage of this international climate to commit more violations," Abdul Hafeez said.

Russia's war on Ukraine is overshadowing the situation and war in Yemen, he said, "and there are even those who say that the world's preoccupation with Ukraine could cause the war in Yemen to become a 'forgotten war'".

The war in Ukraine has created a more complex environment in terms of energy sources, he added.

This comes at a time when the Houthis continue to threaten vital oil facilities in Saudi Arabia.

The Arab coalition in March destroyed two explosive-laden drone boats off the coast of al-Hodeidah, in the southern Red Sea, which the Houthis were reportedly planning to use against oil tankers crossing the Bab al-Mandeb strait.