Donors pledge US$6.4b in aid to Yemen
RIYADH, Sept 4 — A group of international donors today pledged US$6.4 billion (RM19.9 billion) of aid to Yemen to help the impoverished country rebuild after it was hit by political unrest and an insurgency waged by al Qaeda, a senior World Bank official said.
Yemen Prime Minister Mohammed Salem Basindwa (right) arrives for the meeting of international donors in Riyadh with walks with Saudi Arabia’s Finance Minister Ibrahim al-Assaf. — Reuters picYemen is in a delicate transition to democracy. Former president Ali Abdullah Saleh’s 33-year rule formally ended in February when Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi was elected under the terms of an agreement crafted by his Gulf neighbours, with US and United Nations backing. The deal envisages elections in 2014.
“The total number is US$6.396 billion, to fund the short term and portions of the long term,” Inger Andersen, vice president for the Middle East and North Africa at the World Bank, said at a meeting of donors in Riyadh.
The figure includes US$3.25 billion in aid already pledged earlier by Saudi Arabia, of which a US$1 billion loan has been paid to Yemen’s central bank.
The United States, which wants to prevent instability in Yemen from spreading in the oil-rich region, said it would provide US$345 million in security, humanitarian and development assistance this year.
The figure, contained in a speech by US Agency for International Development administrator Rajiv Shah that was distributed to media, was more than double last year’s figure. Of the total, US$117 million will be in the form of humanitarian assistance, Shah said in his speech.
Britain is to provide a grant of £196 million (RM969 million).
The aid total pledged today appeared to cover Yemen’s own estimate of the assistance it will need until the end of the election.
A handout from Yemen’s Planning and International Cooperation Ministry said that by 2014, the country would need US$300 million for a peaceful transfer of power, US$445 million for security, US$3.5 billion for humanitarian projects and reconstruction, and US$470 million to stabilise the economy. — Reuters
