WFP Yemen Country Brief, September 2019
In Numbers
12.2 million people assisted in September 2019
116,784.8 mt of general food assistance dispatched
US$24.1 million cash-based and commodity transfers made
US$550 million six months net funding requirements (October 2019 - March 2020)
Operational Updates
• Following the security unrest in the south of Yemen in August, the situation has seen improvement in September, but remains unpredictable. Early in August, an advanced rotation of international staff and a work from home modality of national staff were activated. On 09 September, food dispatches resumed from Aden under the August cycle. On 22 September, all staff of WFP Aden area office resumed work from the office.
• In September, the contracting details to initiate the milling of the WFP wheat in the Red Sea Mills (RSM) was finalized. The mills originally housed some 51,000 mt of WFP wheat, enough to feed 3.7 million people for one month. As a first phase, 700 mt of milled wheat is planned to be transported to distribution sites in northern Yemen. The milling is set to start early October.
• Throughout the second half of September, fuel shortages were observed primarily in northern Yemen, where up to 13 vessels were blocked from entering Hudaydah ports. Late September, WFP logistics reported that the shortages across the country started to affect tansporters’ ability to deliver food. To mitigate the impacts, a reallocation exercise was conducted to reassign transporters with contingency diesel stocks to ensure uninterrupted transport operations for the shortterm. On 29 September, the fuel situation has seen a slight improvement as one vessel carrying 30,000 mt of fuel was granted access to Hudaydah port.
• On 01 September, the UN Special Envoy for Yemen and the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen released a joint statement addressing the casualties reported following the 01 September airstrikes that hit a detention facility in Dhamar governorate, the death toll increased to over 135, with dozens more injured.
• On 14 September, Ansar Allah claimed drone attacks on two major oil facilities run by the Saudi company Aramco in Abqaiq and Khurais.