Saudi Arabia and western and Gulf states pledged more than $4 billion (€3.18 billion) in aid to Yemen at a Riyadh conference two days after more than 90 Yemeni soldiers were killed in a suicide attack, deepening concerns about al-Qaeda’s presence in the country.
In a statement issued in London, seven aid agencies called for urgent food and other aid to head off a humanitarian disaster. They said almost half of Yemen’s population did not have enough to eat.
At the Riyadh conference, Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, pledged $3.25 billion of the total $4 billion in aid.
“I assert one more time our support to Yemen to back all the phases of the political initiative to help achieve security, stability and prosperity in facing the threats of extremism and terrorism,” Saudi foreign minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said.