DOHA: Having already provided humanitarian assistance in war-ravaged Yemen on a large scale, Qatar is coordinating with GCC peers to ensure relief distribution there is smooth and over long term.
Also in focus is Qatar and its GCC neighbours’ concern to fund development projects in the country once legitimate authority assumes power.
Keen to respond to urgent needs of people in Yemen, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE met in New York yesterday with humanitarian relief agencies to ensure aid distribution in the country.
Also discussed were plans of Qatar and other GCC states on how to provide humanitarian assistance to Yemenis over long term and ensure development projects are launched, funded by them.
“There is no dearth of funds for efforts and we are keen to help our Yemeni brothers,” said Saudi Arabia’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Abdullah bin Yahya Al Muallimi.
Emerging from the meeting, he told reporters that relief efforts of the GCC states for the Yemeni people will continue for decades.
“There are also plans to launch development projects in the country.”
At the meeting with humanitarian aid agencies, Qatar was represented by Foreign Minister H E Dr Khalid bin Mohamed Al Attiyah. His Saudi Arabian counterpart Adel bin Ahmed Al Jubeir and UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan attended. Al Muallimi said Qatar, Saudi Arabia and other GCC states had provided aid worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Yemeni people.
But that is not enough as the GCC states would like to ensure relief distribution over decades and fund massive rebuilding efforts there, he added.
The meeting was important as aid flow is being impeded by the Houthis, who recently looted 20 truckloads of aid materials and diverted the convoy, he said.
The convoy was going to Taiz city but the trucks were plundered on the way.
“Aid agencies have ideas. They can ensure how aid can reach the needy people,” Al Muallimi said.
However, the interaction with aid agencies also aimed to urge them to assess the situation in Yemen and the need for aid over short and long terms, he added.
Aid agencies are facing huge problems in Yemen as they can’t easily access the needy people.
“They are brave people and notwithstanding challenges they are facing, they are doing their work very nicely,” Al Muallimi said of aid workers and their agencies active in Yemen, Saudi-based alyaum.com reports.
Al Muallimi, however, clarified that once the legitimate authority assumes power in Yemen, development projects will be launched funded by the GCC states.
The meeting was held on the sidelines of the 70th Session of the UN General Assembly, Qatar News Agency said.
The Peninsula
