UN urges world not to forget 19 million hungry Yemenis

By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. humanitarian chief is urging a world focused on Russia’s war in Ukraine not to forget the war in Yemen where “one of the world’s gravest global humanitarian catastrophes” has left 19 million people facing hunger this year. Martin Griffiths says this includes 160,000 people who will face “famine-like conditions.” He told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that Yemen has the world’s highest percentage of its population in need — three out of every four Yemenis, or 23.4 million people. Griffiths spoke on the eve of Wednesday’s high-level virtual pledging conference for Yemen  that is seeking to raise nearly $4.3 billion.