Author William Lambers

The political unrest and violence in Yemen are not the only battles ongoing in the impoverished country. The smallest children in Yemen have their own struggle against deadly malnutrition. Yemen has one of the highest child malnutrition rates in the world.

A convoy of three trucks loaded with UNICEF emergency supplies funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), makes it through to Sa’ada on 19 May 2011 (Mohammed Al-Asaadi/UNICEF)

That is why three UNICEF trucks with life-saving plumpynut arrived in Sa’ada governorate in Northern Yemen last week. Plumpynut is a special peanut paste which can give small children the nutrition they need to survive.

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This month the UN World Food Programme (WFP) will launch an emergency safety net operation to provide rations to hungry Yemeni families. However, only four out of 14 intended areas, or governorates, in Yemen will receive the rations. GianCarlo Cirri, WFP’s Yemen director, says, “We would need additional funding to cover for the 10 remaining governorates.”

Yemen is currently experiencing massive political instability with a powerful protest movement pitted against long-time President Saleh. Food instability has been raging for years in the poorest country in the Middle East.

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Who suffer the most from this tragedy? Children. Last year three Yemeni children got to voice their message of hope for their embattled country. This was part of an interactive event hosted by Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the United Nations. Bashir Shalili, a boy from Yemen said, “We don’t want war. We want peace. We have the right to education.”

Read the full article at the Yemen Times or Blogcritics Magazine.