Saudi Arabia will host a virtual donor conference on June 2 for Yemen, a country ravaged by more than five years of war and threatened by the new coronavirus pandemic, the official SPA agency said on Sunday.
The Saudi kingdom, a neighbor of Yemen, has led a military coalition since 2015 that supports the Yemeni government against the Houthi rebels who have captured part of the north of the territory and the capital Sanaa. This conflict has caused the worst humanitarian crisis in the world according to the UN.
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" Saudi Arabia will host the donor conference for Yemen on June 2, 2020, with the participation of the United Nations ," said SPA, adding that it would be a " virtual " meeting due to the context of the pandemic. world of the new coronavirus.
Yemen, which cannot afford large-scale testing, has officially announced nearly 40 cases of infection and at least eight deaths. The UN and humanitarian organizations fear a catastrophe if the virus spreads in this country, where the war has ravaged an already failing health system. In addition, some 24 million Yemenis - over 80% of the population - depend on aid, according to the UN. More than three million people have been displaced by the violence, many of them in camps particularly at risk of the spread of diseases such as malaria and cholera.
Saudi Arabia is one of the main contributors to aid to Yemen, while the kingdom is under fire from international critics due to the humanitarian consequences of its military intervention.
The military coalition has been accused of multiple " blunders " against civilians. She admitted " mistakes ", but accuses Houthi rebels of using civilians as human shields. Both sides are accused by the UN of " war crimes ".
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