The United Nations on Wednesday received only $1.3 billion in pledges towards a $4.27 billion aid plan for war-torn Yemen where the humanitarian drive had seen funding dry up even before global attention turned to the conflict in Ukraine.
"We hoped for more and it is a disappointment that we weren't able as yet to get pledges from some we thought we might hear from," U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths told a one-day pledging event co-hosted by Sweden and Switzerland.
He said a second pledging drive for Yemen, where millions face hunger, may be considered in a few months to "at a minimum reach levels of funding we saw last year" when donors gave $2.3 billion.
Among the 36 pledges received on Wednesday, the United States offered $585 million and the European Union and member states together offered $407.4 million. Britain pledged 88 million pounds ($115 million).
Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie, a UNHCR special envoy, visited Yemen last week to draw attention to the humanitarian crisis in which more than 17 million people require food aid.
That number could rise to 19 million in the second half of the year, U.N. bodies said. By December, those experiencing emergency levels of hunger could reach 7.3 million.
"It is heart-breaking. It is infuriating," said Jolie. "There is nothing more important for Yemen than to end the conflict."
Yemen has been mired in violence since the Iran-aligned Houthis ousted the government from the capital, Sanaa, in late 2014, prompting a coalition led by Saudi Arabia to intervene.
Saudi Arabia and coalition partner the United Arab Emirates did not announce new pledges. However Riyadh's King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center said it would continue to support Yemen.
Aid agencies have already been forced cut back or stop food, health and other vital assistance in Yemen where the economy and basic services have collapsed.
Access to potable water for 4 million people living in major cities may be lost in coming weeks and women may lose healthcare services, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.
"We cannot cut people adrift from humanitarian aid," he warned.
Food prices, which doubled last year due to a coalition blockade on Houthi-held areas, are set to rise further since a third of the country's wheat comes from Russia and Ukraine.
Across Yemen, 2.2 million children are acutely malnourished.
In Aden's Keraa camp, Abdo Yehya has seen no aid this year.
"We survive with the help of our son who collects empty plastic bottles and metal cans and sells them, and ... the kindness of people," he said. "We are exhausted."
The World Food Programme warned on Monday that without substantial new funding mass starvation and famine would follow.
Donor budgets have been strained by the pandemic, the Afghanistan crisis and now Russia's invasion of Ukraine. There are also concerns over allegations of Houthi interference in aid flows. The Houthis previously told Human Rights Watch the allegations were “baseless”.
UAE Foreign Affairs Minister of State Sheikh Shakhboot al-Nahyan accused the Houthis of diverting aid and urged them to engage in peace negotiations.
The Saudi-based Gulf Cooperation Council plans to invite Yemeni parties including the Houthis for consultations in Riyadh starting this month in support of U.N.-led peace efforts.
($1 = 0.7633 pounds)
(Reporting by Ghaida Ghantous and Lisa Barrington in Dubai, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva and Yemen team; Editing by Cynthia Osterman, Emelia Sithole-Matarise, Jonathan Oatis and Nick Macfie)
