Monday March 13, 2017
H E Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Muraikhi, the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, yesterday called for urgent international action by donor countries to provide the necessary financial support to deal with the risk of famine which threatens at least 20 million people in Yemen, South Sudan, Somalia and the north-east Nigeria and assess its repercussions.
Commenting on the UN Report on the Humanitarian Situation in Conflict-Affected Countries, Al Muraikhi said that 1.5 million children are at risk of "imminent death" as a result of acute malnutrition and are waiting for an effective internationalist action to curb the disaster, noting that these four countries need about $4bn in emergency funding.
The UN Agencies have developed a fast mechanism to deal with these crises through Mutual Funds for each affected country, which receive aid either directly or via the UN Emergency Fund that supports rapid humanitarian response, he explained.
The UN deals with the Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) across the four key themes of food security, health, nutrition and sanitation based on priorities in the provision of support within the countries threatened with famine, he added.
The Syrian crisis is at the heart of the United Nations' concerns, especially the worsening humanitarian situation, Dr Al Muraikhi said, pointing out that he is scheduled to tour Syria's neighbourhood countries like Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan in the coming days to get closely acquainted with the humanitarian situation of the Syrian refugees ahead of the Syria Donors' Conference due in Brussels early next month.
The Secretary-General of the UN visited countries exposed to famine last week and praised the contributions of the UN organisations in the assessment of the humanitarian situation in these countries through statistics supported by data which show the gravity of the situation, Dr Al Muraikhi said.