WFP says fighting has put 800,000 people in Yemen out of reach of aid; 233,077 are displaced and 139 migrants died off Djibouti

The week's reports on Yemen came from UN agencies, not from the Security Council. They describe a siege, a rising count of displaced people and a spreading cholera outbreak. The sources do not report any Security Council action on Yemen.

On Tuesday, the Secretary-General's spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, told reporters that conditions in the southwestern city of Taiz are worsening. UN News, the UN's own news service, called the humanitarian crisis there “devastating”. Mr Dujarric said UN agencies and their partners have reached nearly 148,000 people with emergency help since the start of August. The briefing record does not say how that number was counted.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said Yemen has recorded 8,034 suspected cholera cases and 27 deaths this year. A quarter of the cases came in the last four weeks. Its 90-day emergency response needs $31 million and has received $4.3 million.

On Wednesday, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said fighting has cut off aid to 800,000 people across Yemen. It said more than 600,000 people in Taiz alone are out of its reach. El-Khidir Daloum, WFP's country director in Yemen, said: “We are critically concerned about the escalating conflict, but even more so about the growing number of people we can no longer reach because of it.” WFP said it needs $268 million to sustain operations through 2027.

On Saturday, agencies speaking in Geneva gave the displacement count. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said 233,077 people have been displaced since the conflict began in June, including 121,530 in Taiz. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said it has verified that 30 children were killed and 28 injured in the latest escalation. The WHO said 12 hospitals in Taiz hold only enough fuel for four days and that their stock of surgical supplies has fallen to zero.

The UN is a party to this story. WFP said 37 of its staff are among 72 UN personnel detained by Houthi de facto authorities. On Wednesday, Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq said the UN welcomed the release of Sami al-Kulabi and that 71 staff are still held. The sources do not say whether 71 reflects his release from the 72 WFP cited.

Across the Red Sea, the toll was counted differently. IOM said on Sunday that at least 139 migrants have died and 84 are missing after a boat carrying 305 people capsized off Djibouti. Its Director General, Amy Pope, said “No one gets into a boat like that unless they believe there is no other safe way”. The sources do not state the cause of the capsizing.

José Barahona, the UN Resident Coordinator in Djibouti, said nearly 4000 people fleeing Yemen have reached Obock, a town of 20,000 people. On Saturday, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said about 31 cholera cases have been recorded at the Markazi camp in Djibouti. Twenty people have recovered, ten are in care and one has died. It said 3800 refugees have reached Djibouti and about two hundred have reached Somalia.

The week left questions open. The reports do not say who counted the displaced or the suspected cholera cases, or who controls the blocked roads around Taiz. They do not say when access might return. The agencies are also aid providers, so they have a stake in the access they ask for. This paper has not checked their figures.