Author: chiefeditor

Briefing ambassadors, UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg said recent political and security developments – particularly in the south – underscored how quickly stability could unravel without a credible, inclusive political process.

“Absent a comprehensive approach that addresses Yemen’s many challenges in an integrated manner, rather than in isolation, the risk of recurrent and destabilising cycles will remain,” Mr. Grundberg said.

Tensions in the south  

While military de-escalation has been achieved in recent days, he cautioned that the security situation remains fragile, especially following rival deployments in southern governorates.

In December, forces affiliated with the separatist Southern Transitional Council sought to expand their presence in Hadramout and Al Mahra, while government-aligned forces, backed by Saudi Arabia, moved in early January to reassert control over key infrastructure.

Mr. Grundberg said the future of southern Yemen could not be determined “by any single actor or through force,” urging Yemeni leaders to pursue dialogue.

He welcomed President Rashad al-Alimi’s proposal to convene talks with a broad range of leaders in the south, calling it a potential step toward rebuilding a Yemen-wide political process under UN auspices.

Years of conflict have left thousands across Yemen dependent on humanitarian assistance. Pictured here, a health volunteer walks in an IDP camp to check on malnourished children.

Instability preys on economy

Political uncertainty is being felt most sharply in Yemen’s economy, he added, with rising prices, unpaid salaries and faltering services eroding household resilience.

“Even short-lived political and security instability can trigger currency pressure, widen fiscal gaps, and stall reform efforts,” Mr. Grundberg warned.

The economic strain is being compounded by weak institutions and irregular salary payments, particularly for public sector workers.

Mr. Grundberg urged Yemeni authorities to shield economic institutions -including the Central Bank – from political disputes, warning that erosion of confidence could further destabilise the country.

Severe humanitarian consequences

Ramesh Rajasingham, Director of the Humanitarian Sector for the UN aid coordination office (OCHA), said Yemen’s crisis is worsening as needs rise, and humanitarian access has become more restricted amid funding shortfalls.

More than 18 million Yemenis – about half the population – will face acute food insecurity next month, while tens of thousands could fall into “catastrophic hunger,” facing famine-like conditions, he warned.

The health system is also collapsing. Over 450 facilities have already closed and thousands more are at risk of losing funding. Vaccination programmes are also under threat and only two thirds of Yemen’s children are fully immunised, largely due to lack of access in the north.

“As a result, millions of Yemeni children are vulnerable to deadly yet vaccine-preventable diseases, such as measles, diphtheria, cholera and polio,” Mr. Rajasingham said.

Aid efforts restricted

Humanitarian operations are further constrained by the continued detention of 73 UN staff by the Houthi de facto authorities, Mr. Rajasingham said, calling for their immediate release. The detentions have severely restricted aid delivery in areas home to around 70 per cent of humanitarian needs nationwide.

Despite the challenges, aid continues where access allows. UN partners reached 3.4 million people with food assistance late last year and delivered emergency support during floods and disease outbreaks. But gains are fragile.

“Humanitarian action saves lives,” Mr. Rajasingham said, “but when access is obstructed and funding falls away, those gains are quickly reversed.”

A wide view of Security Council as members vote on a draft resolution concerning the Red Sea reporting mandate established pursuant to resolution 2722 (2024).

Attacks in the Red Sea

Earlier on Wednesday, the Security Council also voted to extend for six months, the monthly reporting requirement on attacks by the Houthi armed group – which controls much of Yemen – against merchant and commercial vessels in the Red Sea.

The resolution was adopted with 13 votes in favour, while Russia and China abstained.

The mandate was established in January 2024 amid a surge in Houthi attacks on international shipping linked to the conflict in Gaza.

It tasked the UN Secretary-General to provide regular updates on maritime security incidents, their humanitarian and economic impact, and implications for regional stability.

Since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbour in February 2022, the UN and its partners have supported people in need in complement to the Government’s assistance, from city residents who continue to face repeated drone and missile strikes, to communities close to the frontline and other evacuated away from danger. 

“I am speaking of internally displaced people who’ve been in collective sites for two, three years; I’m speaking of older people and people with limited mobility,” said Matthias Schmale, the UN’s top aid official in Ukraine, outlining some of the priorities of Tuesday’s appeal. 

According to media reports and official information from the Ukrainian authorities, over the past week alone, Russian forces launched nearly 1,100 attack drones against Ukraine, more than 890 guided aerial bombs and at least 50 missiles of various types — including ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as an Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile targeting Lviv in western Ukraine, close to the Polish border.

In addition to providing core aid relief including food, health care, shelter, protection and cash assistance, other key aims of Tuesday’s funding appeal include supporting the evacuation of people in imminent danger – “heroic work near the front line”, Mr. Schmale said, of the hundreds of UN-supported partners who carry out this lifesaving work.

Frontline needs

He explained that funding is needed to assist civil society partners who respond to military strikes countrywide – but mainly within 50 kilometres of the front line –helping farmers trying to survive in a war zone, along with cancer patients whose access to medicines has been disrupted by attacks impacting healthcare.

“We want to continue supporting as best as we can [but] all of this needs funding,” Mr. Schmale said. He highlighted the “enormous civilian suffering” across Ukraine, particularly as communities endure temperatures plummeting to minus 15°C in Kyiv – “an emergency within an emergency” that will likely require further funding from the international community in addition to Tuesday’s appeal, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator noted. 

“We appeal in particular to the international community, to UN Member States, to other donors, to maintain their solidarity with Ukraine and to express that in the form of financial support for the work we plan to continue,” he said.

Speaking in Kyiv at the launch of the appeal, Mr. Schmale highlighted an update from the UN human rights monitoring team indicating that 2025 was the deadliest year for civilians since 2022, with more than 2,500 civilians killed and more than 12,000 injured.

“That’s roughly a girl or a boy killed here every day during a ceasefire,” UNICEF spokesperson James Elder told reporters in Geneva.

“These children are killed from airstrikes, drone strikes, including suicide drones,” he said, speaking from Gaza City. “They’re killed from tank shelling, they’re killed from live ammunition, they’re killed from [remote-controlled] quadcopters.”

Mr. Elder pointed out that more children have also died of hypothermia in the last few days, as harsh winter conditions expose the most vulnerable Gazans. 

Sheer cold kills six children

“We’ve now gone to six children who died of hypothermia just this winter,” he said. “I wish I could take a camera and show you 30, 40-kilometre [per hour] winds ripping through tents on the beach. It’s bitterly cold, it’s bitterly wet.”

The UNICEF spokesperson stressed that the ceasefire has allowed “genuine progress” in primary healthcare, with UNICEF and partners setting up the first health clinics in the north of the Strip and expanding immunization services. 

But desperately needed medical evacuations of children remain at a standstill.

Mr. Elder noted “no noticeable improvement” both on approvals to get children with life-threatening injuries out of Gaza and in convincing more host countries take in the young patients.

He said that in his latest mission to the enclave, he spoke to many children and families denied evacuation despite completing an arduous, formal process.

These included a nine-year-old with shrapnel lodged in his eye who “will lose sight in an eye, maybe both”, a girl in Al Shifa hospital in Gaza City who “may well die” and another child whose leg needs amputating. “All three of those are absolute candidates for medical evacuation; all three of those have so far been denied,” Mr. Elder explained.

Before war erupted in Gaza following Hamas-led attacks in Israel on 7 October 2023, between 50 and 100 patients were evacuated from the enclave every day, according to the UN World Health Organization (WHO).

In an alert on Tuesday, the agency warned that extensive clearance procedures by the Israeli authorities continue to cause delays to deliveries of medicine and food. 

“Some essential medical items are classified as ‘dual-use’ and denied entry,” WHO said in a post on X, in reference to goods that are primarily intended for civilian use but which the Israeli authorities believe could be diverted by Hamas or other militant groups for military purposes.

International NGO ban looms

The UNICEF spokesperson also highlighted the dangers of a recent Israeli ban on international NGOs, which will come into effect in the coming month and mean “blocking life-saving assistance”, he alleged. Mr. Elder also stressed the importance of allowing international media into the enclave, which has not been granted despite the ceasefire.

“There needs to be a lot more pressure on allowing international journalists to come in,” he said. “This is my seventh mission [to Gaza] and every time I see the 360-degree devastation, flattening of homes, my jaw drops.”

“It is absolutely as staggering yesterday as it was the first time I saw it more than two years ago,” he insisted.

Mr. Elder warned that two years of war have “left life for Gaza’s children unimaginably hard,” explaining that “the psychological damage remains untreated, and it’s becoming deeper and harder to heal, the longer this goes on”.

“A ceasefire that slows the bombs is progress, but one that still buries children is not enough,” he concluded.

This comes a day after at least 19 civilians were killed during a ground assault in the Jarjira area of North Darfur state, according to local reports. 

Another 10 civilians also were reportedly killed and nine injured in a drone attack that same day in Sinja, capital of Sennar state. 

The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and military rivals the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been at war since April 2023, and people continue to flee their homes due to the violence. 

The International Organization for Migration estimated that on Friday, more than 8,000 people were displaced from villages in the locality of Kernoi, North Darfur state, with some fleeing within the state and others crossing into Chad. 

Since Sunday, 125 people were displaced from Kadugli, capital of South Kordofan state, while nearly 300 people fled Dilling due to heightened insecurity. 

Nutrition emergency in North Darfur state 

At the same time, a deepening nutrition emergency is unfolding in North Darfur state. UN child rights agency UNICEF and partners conducted a survey last month in three localities. 

It showed acute malnutrition levels far exceeding the 15 per cent emergency threshold set by the World Health Organization (WHO), with one location, Um Baru, having the highest global acute malnutrition rate of 53 per cent. 

OCHA reiterated its call on all parties to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, respect international humanitarian law, and enable humanitarian access. 

Donors are being urged to scale up funding to deliver life-saving assistance. 

Syria: Thousands still displaced in Aleppo following recent clashes 

In other humanitarian news: 

Nearly 120,000 people remain displaced following recent hostilities in the Syrian city of Aleppo, while roughly 29,000 have returned to their homes. 

Deadly clashes resumed last week between troops from the transitional government and the mainly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) following a brief pause after the ceasefire announced in late December 2025. 

Access to the neighbourhoods of Ashrafiyeh and Ash-Sheik Maqsoud is gradually improving but is limited by the continued operations to clear explosive remnants, OCHA said.  

Public services, including the restoration of the water supply to approximately three million people following the reactivation of the Babiri water station, are gradually resuming. 

Schools still shut 

However, schools remain closed for an additional 15 days, and flights to and from Aleppo continue to be suspended.  

Humanitarians on the ground continue to provide shelter, health, nutrition, food and other aid while closely monitoring population movements.  

OCHA and partners also remain on standby to adjust and scale up response as required, amid ongoing access constraints and other challenges. 

$1.5 billion humanitarian appeal for South Sudan  

Humanitarians are seeking $1.5 billion to support 4.3 million people in South Sudan this year. 

The UN and partners launched the appeal, together with the Government, in the capital Juba on Tuesday.   

The priority is to raise $1 billion fast, to reach 4 million people.  

South Sudan is one of the most complex humanitarian crises in the world as conflict, climate shocks, disease outbreaks, deepening economic challenges – and the spillover from the war in neighbouring Sudan – continue to drive needs. 

It is estimated that 10 million people, roughly two-thirds of the population, will need humanitarian aid in 2026, with over 600,000 refugees among them. 

More than 7.5 million people are projected to face food insecurity during the lean season from April to July.