Yemen: Conflict, Famine, Refugees, and IDPs: A Perfect Storm in Yemen?

Apr 14, 2015 | Omer Karasapan, Brookings Institution
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The current crisis in Yemen will only add to the fraying of an already extremely fragile country and worsen an unfolding human tragedy. Thousands have died since the outbreak of fighting in 2014, and more are lost every day as the Saudi-led coalition—the latest entrants into the conflict—conducts air strikes in support of President Hadi.

The World Food Program (WFP) summarizes the situation in Yemen as “large scale displacement, civil conflict, food insecurity, high food prices, endemic poverty, diminishing resources (water and hydrocarbons) and influxes of refugees and migrants.” All this in a country where a 2014 WFP food security survey found 41 percent of the population (10.6 million) to be food insecure and 5 million severely so. In short, Yemenis are unable to buy or produce the food they need. The northern governorate of Sa’ada, where the Houthi rebels hail from, is among the worst hit.