Britain-based Oxfam in a statement urged donor nations to provide aid for the Yemeni people rather than arms for the aggressors.
The developments come as Yemeni civilians are struggling to survive starvation and disease in the wake of Saudi Arabia’s atrocious aerial bombardment campaign. The appeal was made on the eve of a United Nations conference in Geneva to seek aid pledges for the Arab country.
“Many areas of Yemen are on the brink of famine, and the cause of such extreme starvation is political,” the Oxfam said in the statement.
Western governments are participating in the confab “while they continue to sell billions of dollars worth of weapons and military equipment to parties to the conflict”.
Oxfam noted that the food crisis could deteriorate in case the international community fails to send a clear message that Saudi-led airstrikes against Yemen's western port city of Hudaydah, which serves as a primary entry point for humanitarian aid and fuel for the Arab country, would be “totally unacceptable”.
Furthermore, the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) has appealed for life-saving assistance to millions of crisis-stricken Yemenis.
Saudi Arabia has been incessantly pounding Yemen since March. The military aggression has claimed the lives of more than 12,000 people, most of them civilians.