EU provides additional €22.5 million in humanitarian aid to Yemen

China News Service, Brussels, October 23 (Reporter Toku Yongjian) As the military conflict in Yemen continues to escalate, the European Union announced on the 23rd that it will provide an additional 22.5 million euros in humanitarian assistance to Yemen to respond to the growing humanitarian needs there.

According to an announcement issued by the European Commission on the same day, the EU will provide food, nutrition, drinking water, medical care, sanitation, shelter and other assistance to Yemen in accordance with the principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence. The aid targets displaced families, women and children, disabled people, marginalized communities and other vulnerable groups in Yemen.

The announcement stated that the recent military conflict in Yemen has continued to escalate, resulting in an increasing number of civilian casualties, hundreds of thousands of people displaced, and millions of people facing severe food insecurity, malnutrition, lack of safe drinking water and medical resources, and the local humanitarian situation is becoming increasingly severe.

The announcement shows that including this round of 22.5 million euros in aid, the EU's total aid to Yemen this year has increased to 110 million euros.

In 2014, Houthi armed forces captured the Yemeni capital Sanaa, and Yemen has since plunged into civil war. According to EU statistics, as one of the most serious humanitarian crises in the world, more than 2.2 million children under the age of 5 in Yemen currently suffer from acute malnutrition, approximately 5.2 million people are displaced, and a total of 22.3 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance.

Since September this year, the Houthi armed forces have launched offensives against government forces in Taiz and other places in the southwestern province of Yemen, and Yemen has once again fallen into a large-scale conflict. The Houthi armed forces also launched attacks on airports and oil facilities in Saudi Arabia that support the Yemeni government, causing casualties. The United Nations special envoy for Yemen previously warned that as the military conflict in Yemen interacts with the instability in the Middle East, freedom of navigation and international trade in the Red Sea have been threatened.