UAE aid to Yemen at Dh744m

Total humanitarian assistance extended so far by the UAE in response to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen stood at Dh744 million (US$202 million) over the last four months, the Ministry of International Cooperation and Development (MICAD) announced in a report on UAE Response to the Humanitarian Situation in Yemen - 2015.

MICAD said the food assistance, offered in implementation of directives given by President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, amounted to 23,000 tonnes and had benefitted more than 181,000 Yemeni families (1.1 million people).

'An additional 6,000 tonnes will shortly be sent to bring to 29,000 tonnes the total food assistance provided to the affected Yemeni people,' the report added.

Value of assistance channelled into the energy sector to provide electricity and repair damaged power stations and power transmission networks stood at Dh314 million against Dh188 million offered in urgent food assistance that included cereals, canned foods, edible oils and other foodstuff.

The report estimated urgent medical assistance and medicines at Dh122 million, support and co-ordination services at Dh46 million, drinking and clean water and sanitation services at Dh41 million, fuel at Dh14 million, miscellaneous relief items at Dh12 million and transport services at Dh7 million.

The UAE was ranked first globally as the largest donor to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen during 2015, representing 31 percent of the total aid provided by countries around the world. Figures released by the Financial Tracking Service (FTS), a UN-managed database which records all reported international humanitarian aid contributions, found that the total value of humanitarian aid provided by the UAE to Yemen was Dh508.7 million (US$138.5 million) out of the Dh1.650 billion (US$449.5 million) overall global contributions.