WFP Yemen Situation Report #44, February 2019

In Numbers * 24.1 million people in need of humanitarian assistance
3.3 million people internally displaced
20.1 million people are food insecure

Highlights

• WFP distributed food assistance to 9.3 million people in February, achieving 80 percent of the planned 11.7 million.

• The 2019 Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) has been published stating that, after four years of continuous conflict, the humanitarian crisis in Yemen is the worst in the world.

• For the first time in a year, WFP entered Hudaydah port with containerized cargo, carrying 440 containers of WFP vegetable oil from Salalah Port to Hudaydah Port.

Situation Update (including security)

Air Strikes

• On 9 February, an airstrike struck a sub-contracted truck carrying WFP commodities (and two other commercial vehicles) in Kitaf district in north-eastern Sa’ada governorate. The truck contained 50 cans of vegetable oil, 50 bags of wheat flour and 50 bags of lentils. All commodities are reported to have been destroyed. Similarly, on 12 February, an airstrike struck a sub-contracted truck that was transporting WFP commodities in Shaad’a district in Sa’ada governorate. A total of 2.13 mt of mixed commodities was destroyed in the incident.

Security

• In February, an escalation of conflict between Houthi forces and the Internationally Recognized Government of Yemen (IRG) in Hajjah governorate, led to the de-facto local authorities restricting WFP food deliveries to Kushar and Abs districts in Hajjah. As of March, the restrictions have been relaxed although four districts remain inaccessible for humanitarians: Haradh, Mustaba, Midi and Hayran. During the last six months, the number of people displaced by violence across the governorate has increased sharply from 203,000 to around 420,000 people. IDPs are scattered in more than 300 settlements in different districts.

Access to the Red Sea Mills

On 26 February, a UN joint mission (WFP, OCHA, DSS, UNDP) escorted by the United Nations Mission to support the Hudaydah Agreement (UNMHA) crossed conflict lines and visited the Red Sea Mills on the outskirts of Hudaydah city, which have been damaged in fighting and inaccessible to WFP since September 2018. Analysis confirmed that of the 51,000 mt of WFP wheat stored in the mills, WFP will need to fumigate the wheat before being milled and safe for consumption. WFP is now liaising with the authorities on the ground to access the mills again.

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/wfp-yemen-situation-report-44-february-2019