Beautiful Virgin Islands

Saturday, Sep 06, 2025

‘Take from the hungry -not from the rich- to feed the starving’: UN faces awful dilemma

‘Take from the hungry -not from the rich- to feed the starving’: UN faces awful dilemma

Agencies forced to cut back aid in Yemen, Afghanistan, South Sudan and Ethiopia despite growing need as funds go to Ukraine

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has put huge pressure on an already shrinking pot of international aid.

Aid agencies working in countries with the most pressing emergencies, including Yemen, Afghanistan, South Sudan and Ethiopia, are facing difficult decisions on how to spend their money.

Commenting on Yemen recently, the chief executive of the World Food Programme (WFP), David Beasley, said: “We have no choice but to take food from the hungry to feed the starving.”

Food aid is distributed at al-Jarahi town, in Hodeidah province, Yemen, February 2022.
Yemen


Needs in Yemen are increasing after seven years of war, an accompanying economic crisis that has forced many people into debt and the added threat of desert locusts destroying crops.

The victims of Yemen’s war and those of other humanitarian crises fuelled by conflicts and climate disasters have continued to suffer during the pandemic, but spending from international donors has been cut. This has forced humanitarians to scale back on what they provide, including food rations, and it is feared worse is to come.

Despite the number of people needing aid having already risen by more than 1 million to 17.4 million this year, and estimated to rise by more than 1 million by the end of 2022, the WFP said on Tuesday it had a food aid funding gap of $900m (£686m). Only 11% of its funding target has been met.

On Wednesday, donors pledged $1.3bn for Yemen, but this was $3bn short of the $4.3bn the UN says is required.

An estimated 31,000 people are facing catastrophic levels of hunger, according to the IPC scale used by humanitarians. That number could rise to 161,000 by June.

The UN food agency has already reduced rations for 8 million people but with the number of those most desperately in need still growing, and aid still lacking, it has warned of further cuts.

A UNHCR staff member assists distributes winter cash assistance in Kabul. Half the Afghan population is facing food insecurity.


Afghanistan


The freezing of development aid to Afghanistan since the Taliban’s takeover last year has plunged an already aid-reliant economy into a desperate humanitarian crisis. Half the population is facing food insecurity – among them 8.7 million people at risk of “famine-like” conditions.

But the UN $4.44bn appeal has only been 13% funded since launching in January. WFP alone is running $525m short of the funding it urgently requires to meet hunger needs for the next six months.

Most of the country is in debt, according to the UN, and 95% of families do not eat enough. Almost every female-headed household does not have enough food.

People who fled the war in Tigray await food from the WFP in a camp for internally displaced people in Debark, Ethiopia, September 2021.


Ethiopia


The fighting in and around Tigray in northern Ethiopia has displaced more than 2 million people. The UN is more than $300m short of its $957m funding target.

The UN wants to reach 870,000 people every week, but since mid-October it has reached only 740,000.

The situation has been complicated by the difficulties aid agencies face in accessing displacement camps because of continued fighting.

Most families in Tigray do not have enough food, the UN says, and are coping by reducing meals, selling crops to pay debts or begging. There are 454,000 malnourished children in the region – more than a quarter of them severely – and 120,000 malnourished women who are pregnant or lactating.

A World Food Programme aircraft makes a drop of food aid near a village in Ayod county, South Sudan.
South Sudan


South Sudan is facing its worst ever hunger crisis, according to the UN. It has warned that 70% of people will struggle to get through the coming lean period as supplies dry up. An estimated 8.9 million people, of a population of 11.4m, already require aid. But funding for South Sudan is $529m short.

The lean period is followed by a flood season, which over recent years has been extreme and extended, limiting the movement of communities and humanitarian agencies. The situation has been compounded by conflict in the country. Communities have resorted to fending for themselves, including looting aid supplies and attacking aid workers.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Threatens Retaliatory Tariffs After EU Imposes €2.95 Billion Fine on Google
Tesla Board Proposes Unprecedented One-Trillion-Dollar Performance Package for Elon Musk
US Justice Department Launches Criminal Mortgage-Fraud Probe into Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook
Escalating Drug Trafficking and Violence in Latin America: A Growing Crisis
US and Taiwanese Defence Officials Held Secret Talks in Alaska
Report: Secret SEAL Team 6 Mission in North Korea Ordered by Trump in 2019 Ended in Failure
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Florida Murder Case: The Adelson Family, the Killing of Dan Markel, and the Trial of Donna Adelson
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Big Tech Executives Laud Trump at White House Dinner, Unveil Massive U.S. Investments
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
‘Looks Like a Wig’: Online Users Express Concern Over Kate Middleton
Brand-New $1 Million Yacht Sinks Just Fifteen Minutes After Maiden Launch in Turkey
Here’s What the FBI Seized in John Bolton Raid — and the Legal Risks He Faces
Florida’s Vaccine Revolution: DeSantis Declares War on Mandates
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
"The Situation Has Never Been This Bad": The Fall of PepsiCo
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
The Fashion Designer Who Became an Italian Symbol: Giorgio Armani Has Died at 91
Putin Celebrates ‘Unprecedentedly High’ Ties with China as Gazprom Seals Power of Siberia-2 Deal
China Unveils New Weapons in Grand Military Parade as Xi Hosts Putin and Kim
Queen Camilla’s Teenage Courage: Fended Off Attempted Assault on London Train, New Biography Reveals
Scottish Brothers Set Record in Historic Pacific Row
Rapper Cardi B Cleared of Liability in Los Angeles Civil Assault Trial
Google Avoids Break-Up in U.S. Antitrust Case as Stocks Rise
Couple celebrates 80th wedding anniversary at assisted living facility in Lancaster
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
The White House on LinkedIn Has Changed Their Profile Picture to Donald Trump
"Insulted the Prophet Muhammad": Woman Burned Alive by Angry Mob in Niger State, Nigeria
Trump Responds to Death Rumors – Announces 'Missile City'
Court of Appeal Allows Asylum Seekers to Remain at Essex Hotel Amid Local Tax Boycott Threats
Germany in Turmoil: Ukrainian Teenage Girl Pushed to Death by Illegal Iraqi Migrant
United Krack down on human rights: Graham Linehan Arrested at Heathrow Over Three X Posts, Hospitalised, Released on Bail with Posting Ban
Asian and Middle Eastern Investors Avoid US Markets
Ray Dalio Warns of US Shift to Autocracy
Eurozone Inflation Rises to 2.1% in August
Russia and China Sign New Gas Pipeline Deal
China's Robotics Industry Fuels Export Surge
Suntory Chairman Resigns After Police Probe
Gold Price Hits New All-Time Record
Von der Leyen's Plane Hit by Suspected Russian GPS Interference in an Incident Believed to Be Caused by Russia or by Pro-Peace or by Anti-Corruption European Activists
UK Fintechs Explore Buying US Banks
Greece Suspends 5% of Schools as Birth Rate Drops
Apollo to Launch $5 Billion Sports Investment Vehicle
Bolsonaro Trial Nears Close Amid US-Brazil Tension
European Banks Push for Lower Cross-Border Barriers
Poland's Offshore Wind Sector Attracts Investors
Nvidia Reveals: Two Mystery Customers Account for About 40% of Revenue
Woody Allen: "I Would Be Happy to Direct Trump Again in a Film"
×