Yemen's WFP Aid & other topics - Daily Briefing (26 February 2019)

Noon briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.
Daily Press Briefing:
-Yemen
-Yemen
-Humanitarian
-Spain
-Security Council
-Cyprus, Ebola
-Road Safety
-Honour Roll
-Papa Menon
YEMEN
The Secretary-General is on his way back to New York after chairing the humanitarian pledging conference in Geneva on Yemen.  He told reporters there that today’s pledging conference can be considered a success, with a 30 percent increase in donations from last year to help address the dramatic humanitarian situation in Yemen. This year, $2.6 billion has been pledged, with large contributions coming in today from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Opening the pledging conference, the Secretary-General said that Yemen remains the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. As the conflict continues, he said, 24 million people – 80 per cent of the population – need humanitarian aid and protection.
While there is still a long way to go, he added that there are some signs of hope. The Secretary-General said the Stockholm Agreement has led to a ceasefire in Hudaydah that continues basically to hold, and he also told the plenary today that he had received confirmation that the UN has gained access to the Red Sea Mills.
The Secretary-General emphasized to reporters that there is no humanitarian solution for humanitarian problems. He said it is very important to address the dramatic needs of Yemeni people in this terrible situation, but more important to end the conflict.

YEMEN HUMANITARIAN
A team from the World Food Programme (WFP) visited the Red Sea Mills. This visit was the first by WFP to these vital wheat stores since September of 2018. WFP has been appealing for access to the mills for the past months since they had been cut off by fighting in the area.
The World Food Programme is hopeful that Tuesday’s brief visit will pave the way for more sustained access, allowing it to carry out a full assessment of the conditions of the wheat and the milling facilities themselves. The Red Sea Mills currently hold a total of 51,000 metric tonnes of WFP wheat, which is enough to feed 3.7 million people for at least a month.
At this stage, WFP is unable to confirm how much of the wheat stored at the mills is still fit for human consumption. Properly stored wheat can last in silos for over a year, but these stocks have a two-year expiration date until 2020. WFP had been using other in-country wheat stocks as well as importing more wheat, both by sea and overland from Oman, to cover food needs for nearly 10 million people in Yemen.

SPAIN
In Madrid today, the Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, met with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and they agreed on a joint communiqué which says, in part, that Spain and the UN commit to work towards a more nimble, effective, flexible and efficient United Nations to better serve the people and the planet.
The Deputy Secretary-General spoke at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona yesterday and said that we are in the midst of technological change unprecedented in pace and scope and we cannot predict where it will lead. We do know, she said, that we need to start working much better together if we are to steer change for the good of all.
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