RPT - IFRC President Rocca Says Yemen's 'Forgotten' Humanitarian Crisis Remains Underfunded

UNITED NATIONS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th July, 2019) The humanitarian crisis in Yemen has been met with a lack of funding and is neglected by the international community, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC) President Francesco Rocca told Sputnik.

"The problem is not about expanding [aid], it is about to be funded [to be able] to expand because expansion means funds, so this is a vicious circle that the Yemeni crisis is quite underfunded. It is a forgotten, neglected one," Rocca said.

When asked whether the IFRC had experienced the diversion of humanitarian support in Yemen, as happened with the assistance provided by the UN's World Food Program (WFP), Rocca said his organization had not faced such a problem.

"There have been incidents .

.. in the past, it happened by external actors who bombed the hospitals and their premises, but I did not receive any reports on [the Red Cross food being diverted]," he said.

In June, the WFP partially suspended international aid to Yemen after the government in Sanaa rejected a program to prevent profiteers from diverting food for private gain.

The armed conflict in Yemen between government forces, led by President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi, and the Houthis has been ongoing since 2015. The United Nations has repeatedly called the Yemeni conflict the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with an estimated 24 million people - nearly 80 percent of the country's population - currently in need of aid and protection.