WFP starts distributing food to 340,000 people in Aden, Yemen

The World Food Programme ( WFP) has begun distributions of food to around 340,000 people in eight of the worst-affected areas of the southern Yemeni port city of Aden, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters here Thursday.

"WFP partners are distributing two-month food rations -- including wheat flour, pulses and cooking oil -- in districts of Aden that had not been reached since April because of conflict," Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here.

Three WFP-chartered ships delivered food assistance to the port of Aden last week, carrying a total of 6,800 metric tons of food, enough to provide emergency assistance for some 400,000 people for a month.

Since April, WFP has reached some 2.6 million conflict-affected and severely food-insecure people in 13 of Yemen's governorates. In July so far, almost 700,000 people are confirmed to have received WFP emergency food assistance.

On July 22, the WFP-chartered MV Copenhagen docked in Aden with half a million liters of fuel, the first fuel vessel to reach the port since the beginning of the conflict in late March. WFP requires one million liters of fuel each month for its operations in Yemen.

Even before the war broke out, Yemen imported almost 90 percent of its basic food from abroad, reports said. The impact of traders being unable to import enough food and safely move it inside the country has led to a severe spike in prices, which is increasing the suffering of the poorest and most vulnerable.

Many road networks in and around Aden are currently now either inaccessible or very difficult to reach due to infrastructure damage and fighting. Aden airport is also still not open to commercial and humanitarian flights, WFP added.