Donors including warring party Saudi Arabia discuss 'Yemen aid push' at UN Geneva conference

The UN opened on Tuesday a third pledging conference for Yemen, which is facing the "world's worst humanitarian crisis" with millions threatened by famine, but several major donors are involved in the conflict.

The United Nations hopes to raise $4 billion this year for the Arab world's most impoverished country. 

"Twenty million people cannot reliably feed themselves or their families," said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in Geneva, where the conference is being held.

Guterres lamented "an overwhelming humanitarian catastrophe" where "almost 10 million are just one step away from famine", and 24 million – four-fifths of Yemen’s population – require aid.

The UN's 2019 "Humanitarian Response Plan for Yemen" seeks $4 billion to reach 15 million people across the country, after raising $2.6 billion last year.

But two of the biggest donors, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are active participants in the conflict, leading a Western-backed coalition that supports the Yemeni government against Iran-aligned Houthi rebels.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May pledged to boost humanitarian assistance to Yemen at a controversial European-Arab summit in Egypt, but insisted on continued arms sales to the Saudi-led coalition which has been raining down death on the war-torn country, even destroying UK aid.

Guterres also announced UN officials reached on Tuesday the Red Sea Mills, which hold enough grain to feed 3.7 million people for a month, in the Hodeida port, after fighting cut off the warehouses for six months.

"At least slowly some progress is being made," Guterres said.

The warehouses became accessible amid a pullout of forces from three key ports in Yemen, signaling slow movements to end the four-year conflict between Yemen's government and Houthi rebels.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE, backed by Western allies, have waged an extensive air campaign, imposed air, sea and land blockades and tightened access to the country by shutting down its main airport in Sanaa.

The air campaign and ground battles have killed over 60,000 people, displaced around 3 million, and pushed the country to the brink of famine.