Angelina Jolie is said to provide billions in donations in Geneva to help in Yemen
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In Yemen, more and more people are starving and the situation is devastating. Now the US actress is supposed to collect the equivalent of four billion francs in donations in western Switzerland.
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Due to the dramatic situation in Yemen, the United Nations are calling for donations.
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They get help from US actress Angelina Jolie.
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Four billion Swiss francs are to be collected for the poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula at a donor conference in Geneva on Wednesday.
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The Hollywood star is an ambassador for the UN refugee agency.
The United Nations has launched an appeal for donations for the civil war country Yemen. At a donor conference with US actress Angelina Jolie (46) in Geneva on Wednesday, the equivalent of four billion francs is to be collected for the poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula. Many of the 32 million inhabitants are starving. After seven years of war and the collapse of the economy, the situation is devastating, said UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths. The Hollywood star is an ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and recently visited Yemen.
The United Nations fears that Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine will put others on the back burner. So far there has been no sign of government money being diverted, but the money for Yemen is running out, Griffiths said. A previous call for donations was only 0.4 percent covered by mid-March. “I’m afraid it will be a death sentence for people if we don’t fill the donation hole,” said the UN expert. In 2021, Yemen received the equivalent of a good 2.2 billion francs.
Food prices have increased
According to UN estimates, the need in Yemen and other areas will worsen as a result of the Ukraine war. The country imports a third of its wheat from Russia and Ukraine. Rising prices make it even more difficult for people there to feed themselves. As early as 2021, food prices would have increased rapidly.
A civil war has been raging in Yemen since 2015. A Saudi-led military alliance is fighting alongside the government against the Iran-backed Shia Houthi rebels who overran the capital Sanaa and occupied key facilities in 2014. According to estimates, more than 370,000 people lost their lives in the conflict, and millions are displaced within their own country. Peace efforts have failed for years.
According to the UN, a good 23 million of the 32 million inhabitants are dependent on aid. 20 million of them were already living in extreme poverty in 2021 – also had to get by on less than the equivalent of CHF 1.70 per person per day. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has just reported that 2.2 million children are severely malnourished and half a million are in a life-threatening condition. Only half of the health facilities work. Every two hours a woman dies giving birth regularly.
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(DPA/kao)