The international community has continued to call for a ceasefire in Yemen as the coalition forces have temporarily stopped their assault on the Houthi held city of Hodeidah. The port city is Yemen’s largest port that sees nearly 80 percent of all aid and food enter the country through this port. If it is destroyed during the assault, then it puts nearly 14million people at risk of dying from starvation.
On November 10, pro-coalition forces seized control of Yemen’s main grain facility Red Sea Mills.
These mills hold around 51,000 tonnes of wheat and the World Food Programme’s (WFP) Yemen deputy director Ali Reza Qureshi said that he hopes to see the mills producing wheat again soon.
He said: “We hope the production will resume in the coming next two weeks as we get 21,000 tonnes monthly from those mills, otherwise we will have to import wheat flour.”
WFP also announced last week that it would be doubling its food assistance programme in Yemen in the hopes of avoiding millions of deaths.
READ MORE: Trump sends new ambassador to WATCH Riyadh after Khashoggi death
The NGO Action Against Hunger UK has accused all sides in the Yemen Civil War of using hunger as a weapon and expressed gratitude for Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s recognition of the humanitarian crisis.
The organisation’s executive director Jean-Michel Grand said: “Hunger has been weaponised by all parties to the conflict in Yemen, leaving the country facing the worst famine the world has seen for a century.
“We welcome Jeremy Hunt’s recognition of the humanitarian catastrophe the country faces, and his pursuit of new peace negotiations.
“Humanitarian agencies will be watching closely to see this translated into a ceasefire on the ground, and a lifting of restrictions on humanitarian supplies and access.
“In 2017 around 50,000 children died of malnutrition in Yemen.
“To avert such disasters it is vital that the international community always acts quickly in response to breaches of international humanitarian law in conflict.
“This is why translating UN Resolution 2417 on Hunger and Conflict into action should be high on the UN Security Council agenda in 2019.”
The charity is demanding the international community take action against those countries using hunger as a “weapon” in war.
READ MORE: Khashoggi murder sparks US DEMANDS Saudi Arabia STOP airstrikes in Yemen
When visiting Saudi Arabia on Monday, Mr Hunt called on all parties involved in the war to “pursue peace” while the battle for Hodeidah had taken to the streets forcing the city’s largest hospital, al-Thawra hospital, to evacuate many of its medical staff and patients.
He said: “The human cost of war in Yemen is incalculable: with millions displaced, famine and disease rife and years of bloodshed, the only solution is now a political decision to set aside arms and pursue peace.”
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian made similar comments at the start of the week.
He said: “It’s a dirty war.
“The international community needs to say that’s enough.
“That’s what the US says, we’re saying and the British too.”
Currently, bombings have ceased in Hodeidah as the Houthis remain in control of the city, but, according to a coalition spokesman, the battle was still underway.
Colonel Turki al-Malki said: “The operation is still ongoing.
“It’s not true that there is a ceasefire in Hodeidah.”