Dubai (AFP)

Famine could become a "reality" in Yemen in 2021, the UN warned on Tuesday the day after a donor conference that raised barely half of the funds needed to prevent a humanitarian disaster in the war-torn country.

The UN's goal was to raise $ 3.85 billion, but only $ 1.7 billion was pledged by hundreds of governments and individual donors.

At war since 2014, Yemen is only "one step" away from a major famine, the head of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Achim Steiner told AFP.

"The prospect of even more Yemenis going hungry has just increased exponentially," he added.

A "critical point" could be reached in the "coming weeks".

"This is why we are so worried (...) a major famine could really become a reality in 2021."

- Alarm bell -

The fighting continues, with since February 8 a new insurgent offensive on Marib, the last loyalist stronghold in the North, which has resulted in the flight of hundreds of families.

For a resident of the rebel-controlled capital Sanaa, only the end of the war could save the country.

"All Yemenis want the war to end as soon as possible so that we don't need any more help," he told AFP.

Millions of Yemenis are on the brink of famine and NGOs have continued to sound the alarm bells.

More than two-thirds of the population, or around 20 million people, depend on humanitarian aid, already reduced in 2020 in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic

According to the latest UN figures, more than half of the population will face hunger this year and nearly 50,000 are in conditions close to starvation.

The World Food Program (WFP) has warned that 400,000 children under five could die of acute malnutrition in 2021 due to lack of urgent treatment.

- "Question of life or death" -

According to Steiner, the "immediate consequences" of the drop in aid will be devastating.

"UN agencies and international NGOs must reduce their support for Yemen at the worst time of the crisis."

"Rations must be reduced, food products can no longer be provided while health equipment and basic drugs for the most part can no longer be imported."

"With the promises of (Monday), we may have gained a few more months but the prospect of a drastic reduction in the food supply is imminent," laments Mr. Steiner.

"It is a matter of life and death for many Yemenis."

In this country, already the poorest of the Arabian Peninsula before the war, schools, factories, hospitals and businesses have been destroyed or closed.

A quarter of the working population is unemployed and cannot provide for their household.

According to the UNDP, Yemen faces the world's worst development crisis after losing more than two decades of progress.

"There is an entire generation of boys and girls now growing up without the most basic thing we can provide for them in the 21st century, education," says Steiner.

© 2021 AFP