Mercy Corps: Yemen in State of Collapse as Country Enters Fifth Year of Conflict

Mercy Corps releases statement ahead of the fourth anniversary of the Yemen crisis.

SANA’A, Yemen — Four years after it started, the conflict in Yemen has created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. 80 percent of the population is in need of humanitarian assistance and more than one third, 10 million people cannot find enough to eat.

The Stockholm Agreement, which was intended to begin peaceful negotiations for all parties to the conflict, is now on the brink of collapse.

Commenting ahead of the fourth anniversary of the conflict, Omer Omer, Mercy Corps Acting Country Director in Yemen says:

“As this crisis enters its fifth year, Yemen remains crippled by a broken economy and a conflict with no end in sight, and it is the Yemeni civilians who are the casualties.

The Stockholm Agreement is failing with violations happening on a daily basis.

Despite our best efforts, we can’t keep pace with the growing crisis. Humanitarian aid only ever treats the symptoms of the underlying disease — it cannot provide the cure.

Everything depends on de-escalating this conflict. We hoped we might see some political momentum towards peace or even just a wider ceasefire this year.

Everyone — and every party in this conflict — must understand that anything other than peace is simply driving Yemen towards a worsening humanitarian crisis.”

Notes to Editors:

• Since 2010, Mercy Corps has been working alongside the people of Yemen bring relief to those affected by conflict and living in poverty. Our 250 team members in the north and south of the country are currently providing assistance to severely malnourished children under 5, food baskets and clean water and hygiene support as well as livelihood assistance for vulnerable families and youth.
• In 2018 alone, there was a sharp 27 percentage rise in the number of civilians facing acute humanitarian need in Yemen, according to the United Nations.
• Last year there were 107 districts that were classified as food insecure; 12 months later, that figure now stands at 190, according to the IPC.
• Today, 17.8 million Yemenis lack access to clean water. This water scarcity has triggered the current cholera outbreak — the largest in recorded history, with over 1.2 million cases since April 2017, according to the United Nations.