DUBAI, October 25 (Reuters) – Funds needed to feed millions of people in war-torn Yemen could run out within weeks, a senior United Nations official warned, calling on donors to inject more money to avoid large-scale famine.

World Food Program (WFP) executive director David Beasley told Reuters the first half of 2022 would be “brutal” for Yemen, which is on the brink of famine after nearly seven years of war between a coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the Houthi group.

“We’re running out (of money) in a few weeks,” Beasley said in Dubai. “I don’t see how we won’t avoid, at this point, a famine of Biblical proportions … without a massive injection of extra dollars.”

The war and economic collapse along with the coalition’s restrictions on imports into Houthi-controlled areas have caused what the United Nations says is the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with 16 million people at risk of starvation.

WFP announced in June that it was resuming monthly distributions to about 6 million people in Yemeni areas with the highest rates of food insecurity after donors heeded warnings. Read more

But in September, the United Nations agency sounded the alarm again, saying an additional $ 800 million was urgently needed over the next six months. He said rations are expected to be reduced to 3.2 million people by October and to 5 million people by December with no more money.

Battles have intensified in recent weeks in the energy-rich regions of Marib and Shabwa, further hampering aid flows in a country where 80% of the 30 million people need aid.

The United Nations children’s agency UNICEF said earlier this month that four in five children need humanitarian assistance, while 400,000 suffer from acute malnutrition. Read more

UN-led efforts to secure a truce and lift the coalition blockade have stalled. The war has been at a military stalemate for years, with the Houthis holding most of the major urban centers.

The Riyadh-led coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015 after the Iranian-aligned Houthis overthrew the Saudi-backed government in the capital Sana’a in late 2014. The Houthis say they are fighting a corrupt system and foreign aggression.

Reporting by Alexander Cornwell; Editing by Ghaida Ghantous and Mark Heinrich

Our Standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.