UK announces £139 million humanitarian aid boost for Yemen

The UK will significantly increase aid funding to Yemen aiming to feed more than 850,000 people in the war-torn country, Foreign Secretary David Cameron said on Wednesday.

New aid worth £139 million (around $175 million) to help alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Yemen was announced in a meeting between Cameron and Yemeni Prime Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak in London.

The aid will be delivered through partners such as the World Food Programme and Unicef, a statement read, and hopes to treat 700,000 severely malnourished children.

The move comes a week after the EU announced $125 million for NGOs and UN agencies working in Yemen, where more than half the 34 million population needs aid after nine years of war.

Nearly 200 aid groups called for more humanitarian aid this month to bridge a $2.3-billion shortfall in funds for Yemen.

Huthi rebel attacks on international shipping are also on the agenda in Cameron's meeting with Bin Mubarak, who is Yemen's former ambassador to the United States.

Cameron blamed the attacks on Red Sea shipping for aggravating the humanitarian crisis "through blocking aid from reaching those who need it in northern Yemen".

British and US forces have been carrying out joint strikes since January aimed at curbing the raids.

The attacks, which began in November, were found to affect more than half of British exporters in a British Chambers of Commerce report from February.

Yemen has been gripped by conflict following a 2014 coup by the Iran-backed Huthi rebels, which triggered a Saudi-led military intervention in support of the government the following year.

Hundreds of thousands have died from fighting and other indirect causes such as the lack of food, according to the UN.

While hostilities have remained at a low level since a six-month UN-brokered ceasefire came into force in 2022, threats including food insecurity and cholera remain rampant.