Egypt to host Yemen aid conference in March

Egypt will host an international conference in March to coordinate humanitarian aid for Yemen, a minister in Yemen’s Saudi-backed government said yesterday.

At least 10,000 people have been killed in the last 18 months of fighting in Yemen, according to the United Nations. While 14 million of Yemen’s 26 million population was in need of food aid and a further seven million suffered food insecurity.

“We are now preparing for a conference … to be held here in the city of Sharm El-Sheikh … We are preparing for this conference fully so we can go to the aid organisations and civil society organisations and many donors,” Abdel Raqeeb Fateh, minister of local administration, told a news conference in Cairo.

The conflict pits the Iran-allied Houthis and supporters of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh against President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, who is supported by an alliance of Arab states led by Saudi Arabia.

A Saudi-led coalition began a military campaign in Yemen in March last year with the aim of preventing Houthi rebels and Saleh supporters from taking control of the country.

The Houthis and Saleh’s General People’s Congress (GPC), hold most of Yemen’s northern half, while forces loyal to Hadi share control of the rest of the country with local tribes.

Egypt, which supports the Saudi-backed government, has yet to comment on the conference and its aims.