SANAA (Dispatches) – The United Nations has warned that operations at the strategic Yemeni port of Hudaydah have plunged by nearly 50 percent over the past two weeks, making it difficult for local residents to afford their basic commodities in the wake of the recent wave of violence there.
The World Food Programme warned that imports had fallen substantially "because of the high levels of insecurity in the city" as Saudi-sponsored militiamen loyal to former Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi are engaged in a fierce offensive against fighters from the Houthi Ansarullah movement to establish control over Hudaydah.
"Operations at Hudaydah Port have decreased by 47 percent over the past two weeks,” WFP spokesman Herve Verhoosel told reporters in the Swiss city of Geneva.
"If this situation persists or further deteriorates, it would have (a) drastic impact on food availability and prices in the markets and (would make) it increasingly difficult for Yemeni families to afford their basic needs,” he added.
The UN estimates that 70 percent of all imports into Yemen come through the port of Hudaydah, which lies on the Red Sea.
Meanwhile, aid agencies have launched a polio vaccination campaign in Yemen to inoculate up to five million children under the age of five across the impoverished Arab state whose healthcare system has been crippled by more than three years of war.
The three-day campaign is organized by the UN children’s agency UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the health ministry.
"The campaign comes at a very critical time,” said Meritxell Relano, UNICEF’s representative in Yemen.
"The lack of a fully functional healthcare system and widespread malnutrition have drastically increased the risk of preventable diseases.
"It’s very important that all the parties to the conflict allow unhindered access to enable us to reach all children, from north to south, east to west, with this vital vaccine.”
A Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen’s war in 2015, causing the world’s most pressing humanitarian crisis.
According to a new report by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, the Saudi-led war has so far claimed the lives of around 56,000 Yemenis.