More than half of $2.6bn aid to Yemen pledged by countries involved in war

More than half of $2.6bn (£1.9bn) in donations made at a special one-day conference to ease the humanitarian crisis in Yemen were pledged by countries that are either fighting in the civil war or selling arms to those undertaking the fighting.

The UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres nevertheless hailed the money raised and the news that talks had led to the UN finally gaining access to a grains facility near Hodeidah port that contains enough supplies to feed more than 3m people for a month.

Western diplomats said an inspection of the grains stores in Hodeidah port had been carried out by the UN World Food Programme (WFP), but the warring sides still needed to agree on which road could be used to transport supplies from the site to needy recipients. Access to the stores had been denied for six months, and the UN has been warning that the food could rot.

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The UN is seeking $4.2bn in aid pledges for the whole of 2019, but was not expecting to reach that sum in one conference so early in the year.

The main pledges included $500m from Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates each, as well as £200m from the UK and almost $21m from the United States. The US said it has provided a total of $721m since October 2017. Saudi Arabia and the UAE also each offered $250m in November 2018 for use this year.

The Saudis and the UAE – largely supplied by US and and UK arms manufacturers – have been fighting to wrest control of the country back from a Houthi-led insurgency that has seized control of the capital, Sana’a, the Red Sea port of Hodeidah, and large tracts of the north of the country bordering Saudi Arabia.

The paradox that the wealthy combatants in the civil war are also the largest suppliers of humanitarian aid has been a feature of one of the most brutal and unforgiving of wars. The other big donors on Tuesday were the EU, providing €161.5m (£139m), and Kuwait, which provided $250m.

In a joint statement, five aid agencies – Save the Children, Oxfam, the Norwegian Refugee Council, Care International and the International Rescue Committee – highlighted the paradox of the humanitarian donations from countries involved in the conflict.

The statement said: “We desperately need commitments from some of the very same countries present today to allow unconditional access for humanitarian assistance and commercial imports to all parts of the country. We want to hear world leaders promise to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure such as schools and hospitals, and to hold to account those who disregard international law.

“The countries selling arms to warring parties in Yemen need to stop these deals with immediate effect and put in place strong monitoring and accountability mechanisms, so that devastating weapons will no longer kill and injure civilians in Yemen. Arms must stop flowing into Yemen and political negotiations need to be supported by all involved in this conflict.”

With the talks on a possible withdrawal of Houthi troops out of three coastal ports, including Hodeidah, at an impasse, the UK foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt will fly to Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE the end of the week to assess the state of negotiations.

At the summit in Geneva, UAE speakers accused the Houthis of showing no signs of being willing to honour the commitments made at a peace conference in Stockholm in December.

But senior UAE ministers have spoken of waiting as long as June to assess the results of political talks before considering whether to resume an all-out attack on Hodeidah.

It is estimated that 24 million people, or 80% of the population of Yemen, is in need of aid. The WFP is now reaching about 10 million Yemenis per month with food aid and hopes to scale up to 12 million this year.