Yemen condemns international donor funding shortfall as UK cuts aid

Reducing funding is a death sentence, says UN secretary general Antonio Guterres

Yemenis and aid organisations have condemned a shortfall in international donor funding for Yemen - including the UK government's decision to cut roughly 50% of its support for humanitarian efforts - as a death sentence" for people suffering in the country's civil war.

The UN hoped to raise $3.85bn (2.76bn) from more than 100 governments and donors at a virtual pledging conference on Monday to avert widespread famine in the world's worst humanitarian crisis, but received $1.7bn - less than half - in what the UN secretary general described as a disappointing outcome". The total raised at last year's conference fell $1.5bn short of what was sought.