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RIYADH: Applauding the valuable contribution from ��������Ƶ to help meet the urgent food needs of the most vulnerable in war-torn Yemen, a top official from the UN World Food Programme said that the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center helps provide vital emergency food assistance.
In an exclusive interview with Arab News, Richard Ragan, WFP representative in Yemen, said the UN agency was “proud” to work with KSrelief “not only for their financial generosity, but their partnership.”
He said: “For us who work in the Gulf region, it’s really important that organizations like KSrelief emerged as key partners for the WFP.”
People in Yemen are now hopeful that a longer-lasting peace can be achieved, said Ragan.
“The truce expired several months ago, but it’s largely…stayed in place,” he said, adding that the agency was able to operate “even during the height of the conflict.”
He said: “One of the things that we can be most proud of is that we averted a large-scale famine.”
With the support of KSrelief, Ragan said, the WFP was able to aid over 20 million people on a monthly basis.
“It shows that if the world really concentrates on the issue and does not hold back on the financial side, we can keep this from happening again and at another place,” he said.
“Yemen has fought this conflict for eight years. In fact, it’s been fighting since the early 2000s. So, now is the time for a focus on creating stable systems, getting the economy on track, letting people return to some sort of normalcy, economically and professionally.”
Ragan added: “There is a real desire on the part of Yemenis who are living outside of the country to be able to return home, and that’s certainly a positive attribute.”
The WFP representative acknowledged that there is still much uncertainty for the future: Air travel still has not opened up in the north, the Hodeidah port is still close to most commercial traffic, and the infrastructure throughout the country has been sorely damaged or neglected. Returning to a state of stability is a process that will take time, he said.
“We are at the beginning of it, and the peace process should continue in the direction that we think it’s (going),” said Ragan.
“For us at the WFP, what that means is that we have to get smarter. We are feeding 20 million people today, out of 31 million people — that’s just not tenable for the long term. It creates a sense of entitlement, providing sort of this large-scale humanitarian assistance over the long term. It undermines the economy.
“We have to rethink how we do our programming,” he said, adding that creating economic opportunities and rebuilding infrastructure will be key to achieving a sustainable, long-term impact on the country.