Seven aid groups on Wednesday warned Western diplomats that Yemen was on the brink of a “catastrophic food crisis” and urged them to bolster efforts to salvage the situation as they meet in Riyadh for an international conference to help the nation. “Yemen is on the brink of a catastrophic food crisis,” the seven agencies which include Oxfam, CARE and Save the Children, said in a joint statement released Wednesday ahead of the “Friends of Yemen” meeting. The agencies called on ministers from the wealthy Gulf countries and Western nations due to attend the meeting to “scale up efforts to tackle” the problem. At least 10 million people, some 44 percent of the population, do not get “enough food to eat”, it said, adding that one in three children was “severely malnourished”.
