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File picture: Yemeni street vendors wait for customers in the southern Yemeni city of Aden on April 27, 2020.Image Credit: AFP

Saudi Arabia, UN to organise donor conference for Yemen on Tuesday

UN chief, Saudi FM to address the virtual meeting

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Cairo: Saudi Arabia will co-organise with the UN on Tuesday a virtual donor conference for Yemen, the Saudi news agency SPA reported.

The conference will be held upon directives from Saudi King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz and Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman to raise awareness about the humanitarian crisis in Yemen and make financial pledges to meet essential needs there, SPA added.

The conference will start at 4pm (5pm UAE time) on Tuesday and will be livestreamed.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will open the event while Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan will give the kingdom's address.

The conference will be followed by a press conference attended by Dr Abdullah Al Rabiah, an advisor at the Saudi court and the Supervisor-General of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre; and UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock.

Yemen's Iran-allied Al Houthi militia plunged the impoverished country into a devastating war in late 2014 when they toppled the internationally recognised government and seized parts of Yemen including the capital Sana'a.

In 2015, an Arab alliance co-led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE intervened in Yemen in response to a request from the government there.