WFP Yemen Situation Report #41,15 November 2018
Highlights
• The increased conflict in Hodeidah governorate between the Saudi-led Coalition (SLC) backed forces and Ansar Allah (Houthis) caused the displacement of some 700,000 people since its outbreak in June 2018. WFP has been providing support to the displaced, though the conflict could hamper assistance to some 4 million people living in northern and western Yemen.
• Deflation of the Yemeni currency in the last two months has diminished civilians’ purchasing power and is expected to increase the number of severely food insecure people in the country. The latest food security assessment to be released early December will allow to identify districts most at risk of famine.
• WFP is scaling up its operations to cover the increasing needs, for which USD 412 million are required to meet critical gaps over the next six months.
Situation Update (including security)
• The results of the latest Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) food assessment should be available in early December 2018, and for the first time will be disaggregated at the district level. WFP expects the number of severely food insecure people in the country to increase, taking into account the economic crisis that resulted in an increase in food prices (60 percent since last year).
Purchasing power has also steadily decreased. In addition, intensified conflict particularly in Hodeidah, Hajjah and Sa’ada has displaced hundreds of thousands and affected the livelihoods of many others.
• Starting from January 2019 and subject to approval of the WFP Executive Board in November 2018, WFP plans to transition from the Emergency Operation to the Interim Country Strategic Plan (ICSP), with a focus on WFP Strategic Objective 1 “achieving zero hunger and protecting access to food”, WFP Strategic Objective 2” ending malnutrition and WFP Strategic Objective 8 “improving partnerships”.
• Between January 2015 and mid-November 2018, the Yemeni Riyal dropped by 235 percent. In addition, retail food prices increased by 9-17 percent in September as compared to August 2018 and were 65-136 percent higher than the pre-crisis period (March 2015). The price of fuel was 24-41 percent higher in September as compared to August 2018 and was 101-232 percent higher than the pre-crisis period.
• WFP applauds the efforts of UN Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths to broker peace talks with parties to the conflict in Sweden before the end of the year. Peace is the only way to sustainably end the current humanitarian crisis.
• In addition, while the Red Sea Ports of Hodeidah and Saleef have been operating, commercial deliveries have slowed down over recent weeks. Any disruptions to the ports functioning could seriously hamper commercial and humanitarian flows of food and fuel, which could result in even more widespread hunger in northern and western areas of Yemen.
• Since the end of the temporary blockade, in November 2017, only one containerized cargo vessel carrying almost 10,000 mt of food in 600 containers has received clearance from the SLC to berth and discharge at Hodeidah port. As a result, WFP and commercial containerized cargo have been forced to divert to Aden Port, which is more timely and costly than offloading at Hodeidah Port. In addition, due to the large number of containerized cargo at Aden Por,t there is about a two-month backlog of inspecting and clearing WFP and commercial containerized cargo. This delays commercial food from getting to the markets and may result in shipping companies diverting their cargo to other ports such as Salalah, which will further increase the time for the food to get to the markets, with a possible further increase in market prices.
• Starting 13 November 2018, WFP and its partner Islamic Relief Yemen began providing unconditional food assistance to up to 30,000 families living in three districts in Hodeidah city– Al Hali, Al Hawak and Al Mina. This blanket ration will ensure that food needs of families living in Hodeidah city’s food are met for a month, while fighting potentially prevails in the city. WFP has also pre-positioned in Hodeidah food for 30,000 households through its food suppliers.
• WFP currently has 227,203 tons of cereals in country, sufficient to feed 6.8 million people for over 2 months. Specifically, in Hodeidah WFP has 58,434 mt of cereals which is sufficient to assist 4.2 million beneficiaries for one month. However, WFP currently does not have access to 51,000 mt of these wheat stocks stored in the Red Sea Mill Silos in Hodeidah, where the high levels of insecurity have put humanitarian infrastructure at risk. It is worth noting that the Red Sea Mill silos are responsible for milling a quarter of WFP’s wheat and the current stocks could enable WFP to assist 3.7 million severely food insecure people for one month.
WFP is currently working to regain this access.
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/wfp-yemen-situation-report-4115-november-2018
